The God Who Dwells Among Us

[0:00] Our God, we thank you that you sent Jesus Christ, your only son. It is his blood that was shed for us, that confirmed and sealed the new covenant relationship that we have with you.

[0:16] And so now we know the God that is great, the God that is good, is now the God who is with us. We're grateful for giving your own son for us. And we pray that as we come to know him, and as we come to see all that he is, Lord, that we may find a newfound joy, a newfound satisfaction in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[0:41] And may our faith, our trust in him and in you, our Father, grow by the power of your spirit. Amen. All right, well, we are going to start with the reading of our text from the Bible today.

[0:54] And so we're going to read the scripture. It's just the first nine verses of what Carl read for us this morning. And we're going to, what I'm going to do is begin by first reading the scripture, and then immediately we're going to have to explain what's going on here.

[1:08] Because this is one of those things in the Bible that if you've grown up in church all your life, you may not notice. This is strange to our culture. But if you are coming here to this church, you've never been in a church before, you're not familiar with the Bible, this is going to seem weird.

[1:23] And it's going to be easy to, very, very easy to misinterpret and misunderstand what's going on. So our text is Exodus chapter 25, verses 1 through 9. That's on page 65.

[1:34] If you're using one of the blue Bibles that our ushers handed out earlier this service. Exodus chapter 25, verses 1 through 9. So let me read this for us.

[1:45] The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the people of Israel that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive the contribution for me.

[2:00] And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them. Gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen, goat's hair, tanned ram 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 piece.

[2:23] And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

[2:35] This is the word of the Lord. Now this year we've been proceeding step by step through the book of Exodus. We've seen earlier this year, we've seen the Lord overpower Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

[2:48] We've seen him rescue his people from slavery. And so through that we've learned that God is great. That God is great. Then we've seen the Lord care for his people on their journey through the desert.

[3:03] We've seen the Lord give them his wise, his right laws at Mount Sinai. And so through that experience we've learned that God is good. God is good.

[3:15] And now we're beginning to see that the Lord, the Lord God who is both great and good, he has plans to dwell among his people.

[3:26] To be present with his people. So we're learning that not only God is great, God is good, but that God is with us. God is with us.

[3:38] So now these verses tell us in Exodus chapter 25, the Lord has plans in mind, a blueprint in mind for what he calls a tabernacle. A tabernacle, not really a very common word.

[3:52] Maybe it's one, you know, there's a brand name that you could use because it just means a tent. Right? So if any of you are planning on starting a new company where you're going to make new weatherproof tents or something like that, just call it the Tabernacle Company or something like that.

[4:09] And I guarantee you'll get a lot of sales because it sounds fancy. This is a tent where God will be present to meet with his mediator, Moses. And to meet with the priests of his people who act as mediators between God and his people.

[4:27] Now here is where we're going to run into a cultural misunderstanding if we are not careful. Because for some reason, you know, I didn't realize this until Friday this week, that this is kind of, there's a disconnect here between these verses and the experience that we have here, particularly in Squamish.

[4:48] And that disconnect, all of a sudden it just, it occurred to me when I was, you know, working on this sermon on Friday and I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop being comfortable and there's two guys behind me talking.

[4:59] And one of them used a word that I had heard before, but that I wasn't very familiar with. And the word that he used was glamping. Some of you are laughing already because you know what it means.

[5:12] I had heard the word before and I was like, what does that mean again? And so I looked it up and I found the very helpful website glampinghub.com. So here's how the fine folks at Glamping Hub define for us what glamping is.

[5:25] Glamping, also known as luxury camping or glamorous camping, is that escape you've been meaning to take. It's that little break from the hustle and bustle.

[5:38] It's a moment by yourself in a secluded treehouse. It's that chance to try climbing up a mountain or diving into the sea. It's your chance to be adventurous, be secluded, be daring, be free.

[5:53] Glamping lets you do all that and more. It's roughing it in luxury. That's what glamping is.

[6:03] So on the Glamping Hub website, you can find advertisements for all these dreamy glamping locales. From $194 a night, a spacious pet-friendly yurt in Smith River National Recreation Area, Northern California.

[6:19] Yurts are for glamping. From $254 a night, a modern luxury elevated cabin for treehouse-style experience in Seattle.

[6:30] Then, the big one. From $3,343 a night, a premium log cabin estate with hot tub and helipad in Gold Beach, Oregon.

[6:46] Now, I know what you're thinking about that last one, but do not worry. This one is pet-friendly as well. It's okay. If you really love this idea of glamorous camping in luxury, whether you love this idea, you're like, why have I never heard of this before?

[7:01] This is for me. Or whether just hearing this makes you roll your eyes. Either way, you might encounter these verses in Exodus 25, and you might have a little bit of a jaded attitude.

[7:13] When you read about a tent, you read about furnishings for this tent and the courtyard around it that are going to be constructed using gold, silver, and bronze, purple, blue and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twine linen, and goat's hair, tanned ramskins, goat skins, acacia wood, oil for the lamp, spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting.

[7:35] Building a tent out of that, well, in our culture, we would interpret that as glamping. We might call this the glabernacle. You're not allowed to call it that anymore, by the way.

[7:54] All right. Why does the Lord dwelling among his people look so much like glamping? Well, starting next month, we're going to be examining the Lord's instructions for this tabernacle, all its furnishings for the priesthood, all of these things.

[8:08] We're going to do that over the space of four sermons, and we're going to take that time to understand what each of these elements of the tabernacle and the priesthood, what they're all intended for. In preparation for that, we're going to be doing what we did this morning, which is we're going to be reading these instructions one chapter at a time at the beginning of our worship service for the next several Sundays.

[8:31] And don't worry, we'll have the nice, pretty pictures up there, too. This is literally one of those cases where a picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it? But until then, it is really helpful to understand that these instructions, these instructions, they may sound initially, you know, a little bit outlandish, a little bit pretentious to us, but they wouldn't have seemed that way in the ancient Near East.

[8:54] It wouldn't have seemed ostentatious at all to the people of Israel. Because in the ancient Near East, in a very different culture, a very different world from our own, it was very common for a king of a people for royalty to, not only would he have a palace in his capital city, the king would also have a traveling palace.

[9:17] A traveling palace in which he could live as he visited his people, or as he went with his army to war. So these portable tents, these portable courtyards, they were constructed for kings.

[9:28] They were also instructed for the gods of these people. Instead of a permanent structure such as a temple, you could have a temporary structure, a tent. And so with this cultural background, these instructions actually make a lot of sense.

[9:45] They make a lot of sense to these people. This would not have seemed weird or bizarre to them. This isn't the case of a Vancouver yuppie glamping through the woods of Northern California.

[9:56] This is the case of a sovereign and powerful God dwelling among his people, with his people, as they journey through the wilderness of Sinai.

[10:08] The God who is great, the God who is good, is also the God who is with us. That's what the tabernacle is all about. So this is the amazing, this is the remarkable truth that we learn about God in Exodus chapters 25 through 40, the entire rest of the book of Exodus.

[10:27] He is not a God who remains distant and uninvolved. He is not a God who is way out there in the heavens, and you just can't have a real relationship with him. He isn't even a God who remains at the top of Mount Sinai, where the people can't come to him.

[10:42] Instead, the Lord dwells among his people. The Lord dwells among his people. If there is one verse that serves as a summary theme for the entire rest of the book of Exodus, starting here, it's Exodus 25, verse 8.

[11:00] Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst.

[11:14] So that word sanctuary, that's a word. It's a fancy sounding word once again, but it's a word that simply means a holy place. That's literally what the word means.

[11:24] It's just a holy place. A place that is set apart, a place that is devoted to the Lord. So just as we learned several weeks back that the Sabbath commandment had marked off a holy time, so the tabernacle marks off a holy place.

[11:43] A place where the Lord is present among his people in a unique way to bless them. Now we've learned from our study of the law that there's a problem here.

[11:55] There's a problem here right away with the Lord dwelling among his people. And this problem is going to get more acute in the coming weeks. The problem is this. If God is holy, if God is a holy God, that is, he is a God who is great and a God who is good, a God who is completely pure, a God who has nothing to do with evil, a God who has nothing to do with sin, nothing to do with rebellion against his goodness, how can a holy God dwell among a sinful people?

[12:24] How can a holy God dwell among a sinful people without destroying them? It's kind of like asking the question, how can you take that sun hot and burning in the sky and just plop it right in the middle of the worship center here without everybody dying?

[12:40] It's just that sort of problem that we're facing here. This is a question that's going to become more urgent in the coming weeks.

[12:51] We're going to see, beginning next week, we're going to see Israel rush headlong into idol worship, and they're going to do it even as the Lord is giving these instructions to Moses.

[13:02] Simultaneous to Moses receiving these instructions, there's bad stuff going on down in the camp. How can a holy God dwell among his sinful people?

[13:13] That is the big looming question that the tabernacle is going to answer for us. For now, we learn two things about the construction of this tabernacle from these verses.

[13:24] So from Exodus chapter 25, verses 1 through 9, we learn two things about the construction of the tabernacle. The first thing that we learn is this, the construction of the tabernacle requires willing human participation.

[13:35] It requires willing human participation. Think about what the Lord could have done. I find this to be a helpful way sometimes to study the Bible, is look at what the Lord actually did, but then think about what he could have done instead.

[13:53] And then ask the question, why didn't he do that? Why didn't the Lord simply create a fully formed tabernacle out of thin air, and just plop it down there in the desert? Here's your tabernacle.

[14:04] Here's where I'm going to be living in your presence. That's not what the Lord chooses to do. Instead, in verse 2, the Lord asks for willing human participation.

[14:17] Speak to the people of Israel that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive the contribution for me.

[14:29] So the Lord is inviting his people to participate with him in the building of his royal throne room, where he can dwell among his people.

[14:40] The Lord wants willing participants, people who volunteer their resources, their time, and their labor. So from this we learn that the Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence.

[14:56] The Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence. Now this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who sticks around our church long enough, because everyone who serves with their time, with their labor, everyone who gives financial resources to God's church here, to God's people here, everybody who does that does so freely.

[15:16] There's no law forcing you to pay taxes to the church. There isn't any forcible way that we're going to extract anything out of you.

[15:29] It's just as the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

[15:43] God loves a cheerful giver. All that we give is voluntary. But this willingness is not only necessary as we minister to God's people, this willingness is necessary for you and me to have any relationship with God to begin with.

[16:04] We see here in Exodus chapter 25 that the Lord will not dwell among a people who do not want him to be present. He won't dwell among a people who aren't willing to freely participate with him in the construction of his tabernacle.

[16:20] For God to be with any man, any woman, any child, for God to be in any church that bears his name, that person, that church, must welcome his presence. They must have the attitude that the people of Israel had when they saw the Lord bring them safely across the Red Sea unharmed.

[16:39] In Exodus chapter 14, when we read, Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

[16:53] So the people recognized and they felt that God is great in power and in significance, and they believed.

[17:05] They trusted him. And they trusted his chosen mediator, Moses. And so it is today to have this kind of relationship with God where God is with you, where you know that he is with you, and you have assurance that he is with you.

[17:25] You must believe that he is great and that he is good. And you must believe that God has given for us a new and better mediator than Moses.

[17:38] You must believe what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy chapter 2. There is one God and there is one mediator between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.

[17:55] Jesus is not only mediator. Jesus is not only our go-between who secures our relationship with God our Father. Jesus is also our ransom.

[18:08] Jesus paid the penalty for our sin against God. He paid the penalty on our behalf. And so he has set us free just as the people of Israel were set free from Egypt.

[18:21] We have been set free from our captivity to that old sinful way of life that controlled us, that enslaved us. Jesus did this by dying on a cross in our place.

[18:38] And so just as Jesus willingly gave up his life on our behalf, we must willingly believe in him. We are ransomed from the power and the penalty of sin and we are not ransomed by believing at a force, by having this forcible conversion at the point of a sword.

[18:59] Unfortunately, that's been an element of some people claiming the name of Christ. We're not ransomed by mouthing empty religious words that are given to us by the church or by the state to say.

[19:10] We're ransomed not by being outwardly decent and well-meaning citizens. No, we are ransomed by the broken body. We are ransomed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and we gain this ransom through faith in God and through faith in his chosen mediator, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[19:30] The Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence. That's why his apostle John writes about how Jesus came into this world as fully God and fully man.

[19:44] John writes about how Jesus came to dwell among us in John chapter 1. The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

[19:55] He was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God.

[20:23] We must receive Jesus Christ. We must believe in his name. If you do not believe in the name of Jesus Christ this morning please come on up after the service talk with me talk with one of the other elders.

[20:36] believers let's talk about that. The Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence. You'll notice in those verses from John chapter 1 that there is more than just human willingness involved.

[20:54] There's more than human willingness involved here. Even before human willingness is possible here's the second thing that we learn about the tabernacle construction. Divine initiative is required. So human willingness is involved but divine initiative is required.

[21:12] God must act first. God must act first. The people of Israel don't just get to build whatever tent they feel like coming up with that idea on their own.

[21:25] The idea comes from God. Just as today God as we read in John chapter 1 God must send his own son the true light into the world.

[21:37] And John writes right there in verse 13 that those who believe in him they are children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of flesh nor of the will of man but of God.

[21:51] They were born not of the will of man but of God. It has to be God's plan it has to be God's purpose to make us his children. It has to be God's plan it has to be God's purpose to dwell among his people.

[22:07] That's the pattern that we see in the tabernacle. Building the tabernacle it requires willing human participation it also requires sovereign divine planning.

[22:19] Exodus 25 verse 9 here's what the Lord tells Moses exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture so you shall make it.

[22:32] That's an instruction that's going to be repeated several times throughout the following chapters. Exactly the way that I show you to make it you're going to make it that way. The idea of this tabernacle this is the Lord's doing.

[22:47] The Lord is using a concept that the people are familiar with this concept of a royal tent. The truth is the Lord has been working throughout history he's been working in the cultures of the ancient near east he's been setting this up to prepare his people so that when they receive and understand this pattern they will know what he's doing.

[23:10] This tabernacle it isn't a human invention springing from the will of man. This tabernacle it's what one of the New Testament authors writes about he writes about this plan or pattern that Moses receives in Hebrews chapter 8.

[23:27] We have such a high priest one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord set up not man and so this high priest he is talking about is Jesus Christ ministering in the true tent that the Lord set up not man the true tent for every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices thus it is necessary for this priest also that's Jesus also to have something to offer now if he were on earth he would not be a priest at all since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things for when Moses was about to erect the tent he was instructed by God saying see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain so we see that along with a new and better covenant relationship along with a new and better mediator we have a new and better high priest in Jesus Christ the son of God and this high priest he ministers in the true tent that the Lord set up not man in other words this tabernacle this tabernacle that's going to be man made that the people of Israel are going to build it is not the true tent it is not the true tent where God dwells among his people it is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things it is an earthly model of a heavenly reality that's why God is very specific that's why God is very detailed in giving a pattern for Moses to follow what this tells us is that this tabernacle this all the furnishings for it it's courtyard all the priestly garments that are made the text will later say that are made for glory and for beauty they are like this not for the Lord's sake they are like this for our sake they are beautiful and glorious for our sake if we remember what glamping is all about that's all about the comfort of the person dwelling in the tent the luxury that they experience trying to live this wonderful glamorous lifestyle that's not what the tabernacle is about this is not for the Lord's comfort to dwell in glamour and luxury on the backs of his poor and exhausted people the tabernacle is filled with precious and beautiful designs so that the people of God can see that this is what

[26:31] God's presence is like in heaven this is what God's presence is like in heaven it's a poor replica of the heavenly realities but it still points the way towards them the Lord wants them to see that God is a God of glory and a God of beauty God is great and God is good that's what the tabernacle is about the glory and the beauty of God's presence it's going to be on even fuller display hundreds of years later when Solomon king of Israel builds not just a tent but a permanent structure a permanent temple of cedar and stone in the city of Jerusalem something that is even more glorious even more amazing and jaw dropping than this tabernacle is in Acts chapter 7 the preacher Stephen reminds his fellow Jews our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen our fathers in turn brought it in with

[27:42] Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers so it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob but it was Solomon who built a house for him he's talking about Solomon's temple yet the most high does not dwell in houses made by hands he doesn't dwell in man-made houses as the prophet says heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool what kind of house will you build for me says the Lord for what is the place of my rest did not my hand make all these things didn't his hand make everything anyway and you're going to build him something that's cute the Lord cannot be confined to a house that has been made by human hands the Lord is not limited he is not defined he is not circumscribed by human attempts to describe his glory and beauty for God to be with us in all of who he is for God to be with us in all of his fullness in all of his greatness in all of his goodness

[29:11] God must be the one who makes a house for himself so ultimately the tabernacle is not going to be the ultimate solution to this problem how does a holy God dwell with a sinful people in all of his greatness in all of his goodness and so God sent the real temple from heaven to be with us remember this is what we had on earth in the tabernacle and in Solomon's temple that was just a shadow a copy of the real thing the real thing and so God sent the real temple from heaven to be with us God sent his only son to dwell among us just as we read in Colossians chapter 2 in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body all the fullness of God everything that God is all that makes God God in the body of a man in the one man

[30:15] Jesus Christ so God the Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence through Jesus Christ his son the Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence through Jesus Christ his son we read about Jesus Christ we read about the word of God in John chapter 1 once again the word became flesh and dwelt among us and let me pause there that word dwelt means he set up his tent among us he tabernacled among us the word became flesh the word that's Jesus Christ became flesh became a man and set up his tent among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth

[31:19] Jesus came with a greater glory than the tabernacle a greater glory than even Solomon's temple because he is the true temple he is the true tabernacle he's the real thing but Jesus didn't come for the sake of his own comfort Jesus didn't come to live a comfortable life to sort of rough it in luxury with the people of God far from it Jesus left all the glory he left all that beauty of heaven in order to walk the dusty earth in loneliness in isolation in sorrow and suffering despised and rejected by man a man of sorrows acquainted with grief he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities by his wounds we are healed in

[32:25] John chapter 2 when Jesus marches into the courtyard of the earthly temple in Jerusalem Jesus drives out Jesus gets really angry he throws he basically throws this fit a righteous fit of rage drives out all the merchants who are dishonoring the temple by wheeling and dealing in the temple courtyards the Jewish leaders are absolutely furious at Jesus and John records what happens next in their confrontation the Jews asked the Jews said to him what sign do you show us for doing these things Jesus answered them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up the Jews then said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days but he was speaking about the temple of his body the temple of his body see Jesus was talking about the real temple

[33:26] Jesus came in human form Jesus came with a real physical body as the true temple and Jesus came so that this true temple would be ruined broken on a Roman cross Jesus came so that he would die so that he would be buried in a grave descended into darkness and he came so that he would be raised to new and glorious life resurrection life a life of glory a life of beauty a life free from guilt a life free from shame a life that he calls you and that he calls me to take part in that is why there is no more need for any earthly temple the real temple has come to earth and Jesus is going to come again to make all things new and we are promised this we are promised among us the apostle

[34:28] John writes about that coming city of God he says I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb the Lamb that's John's word for Jesus Christ he will be with us eternal life the Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence through Jesus Christ his son but then even in the here now even in this present age of the world we think well God is not with us yet I long for that day I ache for that day but we have God with us even now the

[35:30] New Testament not only speaks of Jesus Christ as the true tabernacle and the temple of God you know what the New Testament also speaks of the church in the same way in 1 Peter chapter 2 we read this about Jesus as you come to him as you come to Jesus a living stone rejected by man but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house that means a temple are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ and so because we are we who believe in Jesus Christ we're united with him by faith members of his family we his church we function as the true temple of

[36:41] God we gain this identity from being in Christ he is a living stone and we're built on him the God who dwells among us he is here with us he is here with his people here in Squamish Baptist Church and he is here in the other faithful churches in Squamish he is here in churches in BC and across Canada and around the globe God is present with us in glory and in beauty you know what we ought to tremble as we gather together we ought to tremble because God is present with us God is present to stand up for his people we know that because in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 the apostle Paul writes words of warning about this God who stands up for his people he writes these words to the church in

[37:45] Corinth that he planted do you not know that you that's you plural you all of you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and you are that temple God's temple is holy and you you are that temple the God who is great he is not going to stand idly by while someone rises up to ruin his temple he is not going to stand idly by while someone undermines the foundation of his church while someone works to separate us from one another through false teaching through manipulation through rivalry through dissension through the demands that are taught us by the consumeristic American culture God will rise up to destroy anyone who tears down his temple the church this is because

[38:49] God loves his church and he dwells in our church through the Holy Spirit why would you cut yourself off from that the Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence through Jesus Christ his son in the person of his Holy Spirit in the person of his Holy Spirit God the Holy Spirit he is with us because he is with us we as a church are the temple of God we are fitted together like stones in the walls of God's house you and I we were made to be together we are meant to be together to live together to go through life together to weep together to rejoice together to make decisions together to raise our children together

[39:54] God the Holy Spirit has shaped us to fit together to serve together in harmony not to walk away from one another just because you know we don't like the shape or the carvings on the other stones in God's house we can't walk away from the other stones in God's house because not only are we collectively the temple of God but each and every Christian is also a temple of God individually because we are united as individuals with Jesus Christ as well that's why in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 the apostle Paul he comes out so strongly in that chapter against sexual sin he writes he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him flee from sexual immorality every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body or do you not know that your body your body physical body flesh and blood is a temple of the holy spirit within you whom you have from god you are not your own you were bought with a price so glorify god in your body so your body your flesh and blood your arms and legs your bones and muscles and sinews they are not only your own they are gods your body is a temple of the holy spirit within you jesus christ paid the ransom for us jesus redeemed us from slavery to sin and so now we who believe in god the son we who have received god the holy spirit we who are christians we belong to god the father so all that glory and the beauty of the lord we reveal it by living a holy life showing with the way that we use our bodies we show that god is great that god is good that god is with us that's why we serve and obey god we don't do it to earn the favor of god we don't serve god so that we can earn that you know the five star rating on glamping hub dot com and you know convince god to dwell among us because we're good enough we're not marketing ourselves to him we serve and obey god because he is already dwelling among us he is already with us his beauty and glory are already with us that's hard to see sometimes but man at those times when

[42:43] I see among each one of you that glory and that beauty just peeking through I want to see more that's just the first taste of the good life that God has meant for us to live as the temple of God a taste of that life to come when God is with his people the Lord dwells among his people who welcome his presence through Jesus Christ his son in the person of the Holy Spirit let's pray let's sing one final song and then we're going to be talking about celebrating communion together feasting with the Lord our God we are grateful that you are with us oh we have something so much better than the tabernacle we have something so much better than the people of Israel had they had you with them in a tabernacle of limited beauty we have you in a person of infinite beauty

[43:45] Jesus Christ we have your Holy Spirit dwelling among us collectively your church we have your Holy Spirit dwelling in us individually your sons and daughters oh how good you are to us Lord God oh I pray that anyone who does not know Jesus Christ who has not welcomed you as their God as their father oh may they turn from their sins may they turn from their ways that are going to lead only to destruction and eternal death oh may they turn and believe in you and find eternal life the good life that we were meant to live amen please stand with us