PREPARATION EXODUS 35:1-36:7

of exodus chapter 35 exodus 35 well we're finally on the other side of kind of a difficult time for the children of israel as they went through their time of rebellion but then restoration and then renewal and now that moses has come down the mountain you may remember when we saw him last he had come down the mountain and gave the rest of the instructions for that second time to the children of israel and his face was glowing because of his time in the presence of the lord so he would wear a veil when he was in front of the people now it's time for him to uh to get the construction of the tabernacle going and really from about the middle of chapter 36 until the end of the book of exodus

we'll see the construction of the tabernacle and the preparation for uh the children of israel to move on to their next location and so in order for them to build the tabernacle though they have to gather all of the things they have to prepare uh not only the workmen but also all of the implements that they're going to put in there and so what we see tonight in chapter 35 and the very first part of chapter 36 is the preparation for the building of the tabernacle so we pick up in chapter 35 verse 1 and it says this assembled all the congregation of the sons of israel and said to them these are the things that the lord has commanded you to do for six days work may be done but on the seventh day

you shall have a holy day a sabbath of complete rest to the lord whoever does any work on it shall be put to death you shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day now it really struck me the number of times that he's now repeated the principle of the sabbath day and so i thought it might be good for us just to spend a few minutes reiterating and talking again about exactly what god intended with the sabbath day this is at least the third time that he's brought it up and if you count the giving of the ten commandments this is the fourth time that the sabbath day is mentioned in a very short amount of time and so clearly it's something that the children of israel were to pay attention to and something that we as new testament

saints need to understand the principles of and so as i was thinking about it i thought okay given this principle six days of work take the seventh day off but why is it why is it important what's the point of the sabbath well i think there's four things four reasons why he gives us as human beings this principle of the sabbath day number one is for physical rest physical rest this isn't something that we're very good at in our culture matter of fact we're not very good at taking a day off at all uh and i don't mean taking a day off to then go do your hobby that you spend the entire day doing that makes you almost as tired as doing your job i mean taking a day off taking a day where you don't do anything because that was the principle of the

sabbath day is that they would take a day where they basically just kind of laid around all day where they sat in a recliner and just sort of soaked in the joy of hanging out with each other being with the lord and just truly physically resting and then i kind of wonder what it would do for our culture if we really truly took this principle seriously and took just one day of the week i don't care what day it is and decided on that day i'm not going to do anything i'm just you know i'm going to take the day off or do the rest of the week and just go do each other's thing and that's what we're kind of waiting on is that we're not going to be in the 완성 of learning routine where you're working with people all day how to

preven them and into this kind of physical activity so what we could do and maybe even some some biblical examples and potentialけて them the medium of schedule in order to just find out what day it is and how do we want it to be done there's multiple sources and you can get it down a few languages at'll just explore that there's so many disciplinary practices you could look at it there's Number two, it was supposed to be a day that was devoted to worship, a day that was devoted to worship, a day where nothing else in the world mattered. I didn't have to farm my crops. I didn't have to harvest my crops. I didn't have to take care of anything other than allowing my focus to

be on the things of the Lord. Now, you know that I feel like every day should be a time that's devoted to the Lord. You should have some aspect of your day every day that's devoted to the things of the Lord. For us, Sunday is a day that we can somewhat devote ourselves that day more to the spending time with the Lord and focused on the things of the Lord, which oftentimes for many of you starts coming here and you allow yourself to take in what the Word of God has to say.

But I wonder what the rest of our Sundays look like. If the rest of our Sundays are really spent allowing God then to minister to our hearts throughout the rest of that day. Now again, there's no condemnation in Christ, but I just wonder how much it would impact our lives. If we didn't spend the rest of the day sort of focused on those things of the Lord. I'll never forget sitting and listening to Chuck Smith teach on a Friday morning

because he would come and do Friday chapel for us. And after he was done teaching, it was later that day, there was a guy that I went to Bible college with. His name was Simon Woodstock. And Simon came up to me. He said, do you remember what Chuck talked about today? I said, dude, that was a long time ago. This is later that evening. And of course, I'm 19 years old. You don't pay attention to anything when you're 19 years old.

And I said, I don't know. I can tell you what scriptures he was in, but I don't know that I can tell you any points. And he rattled off for me all of the points that Chuck brought up. And I thought that was pretty amazing. I said, how'd you do that? He said, well, I made it a point that after he was done, I went back to my room and I wrote down all of the points so that I could meditate on them

throughout the rest of the day. And I thought, whoa, that's a pretty interesting thing to think about doing. Right. And so I wonder if we were to take a day where we really just allowed God's word to soak into our hearts. And I said, well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I as we are physically resting, what that would do for us. Does it have to be Sunday? Does it have to

be Saturday? No. Any day is good. But I wonder what it would do for us if we just allowed that to happen. That was part of the point of the Sabbath. So not only for physical rest, not only for a day devoted to worship, but number three, it established for us a pattern for time. It established for us that pattern of a seven day week. From what I understand during the French

Revolution, when they were trying to throw off all all rules from the church, they tried to establish, I think it was a nine day week during the French Revolution so that they would have nothing to do with the with the church whatsoever. And people got so exhausted because of there being a nine day week that they finally had to go back to the seventh. Kind of interesting. Almost like God knew what he was talking about when he said six and one, right? Take six days and then take take one day off. And so it really

establishes for us a pattern of time that's kind of stood the test of time, if you will. And then the fourth thing, the fourth reason why the Sabbath is important is because the Sabbath was a foreshadowing of the finished work of the cross. You see, God took this so seriously because it was to be the greatest picture of what it was to rest in the finished work of the cross of Christ. And they pictured it every week, every Sabbath day, they would take the day off and rest, a rest that would be fulfilled when the work of Jesus Christ on the cross was complete.

And so it foreshadowed for us the finished work of the cross. David Guzik, though, in his commentary went a little bit farther and pointed out the fact that why does Moses spend so many times reiterating this principle of the Sabbath day? Why does God give to Moses this principle so many times? David Guzik came up with one reason and I threw two others in there. So I think there's

three reasons why it gets repeated so much. The first reason is this. The Sabbath was one of their greatest expressions of faith. That's the one David Guzik came up with. I think it's probably one of the best ones. It was their greatest expression of faith. I want you to think about this. How much faith does it take in the middle of the harvest to take a day off? Can you imagine a farmer around

here? We know how they work, right? We know how the farmers around here work that when harvest is happening, that's why they've got lights on their tractors, right? So that they can be out there sometimes in the middle of the night, especially if they know rain's coming. If they think a hailstorm's coming, they're out there all night long. They're harvesting because they've got to get the crops in. Can you imagine in the middle of that

saying, it's prime harvest season, take a day off? You would be like, oh my gosh, that would be a stressful thing for these guys, right? And so in order for them to do that, it would have been a great expression of faith. God, I trust you so much with my farm, with my crops, with my well-being that even in my busiest time of the year, I'm going to decide that I'm going to obey you and take a day off. And so it was this,

great expression of faith that they would say, I trust God enough to rest in him. And isn't that kind of what the Sabbath should be for us? Not that we take a day of the week to decide that we're going to trust in God, but with our relationship with Jesus, we say, I trust you enough that I'm willing to cease my own striving and truly just rest in what you say you have done. And so it was their greatest expression because that's the kind of trust and rest that I have in my marriage relationship.

And may I say, if my trust in my wife is that great, how much more is my walk with Jesus Christ founded in that kind of rest? I can know that no matter what I've gone through, no matter who I am, no matter what I've done, no matter how I failed, the blood of Jesus Christ that covered me from sin, that covered all of my sin and the resurrection that guaranteed that that sacrifice was complete, I can rest in that. And I can come to him with all of the things that I am without fear that he's going to reject me. And I can come to him with all of the things that I am without fear that he's going to reject me. Without fear that he's going to say, you're not good

enough. Because as we talked about on Sunday, I'll never be good enough, but I don't have to be because he is. And the longer I walk with Jesus Christ, the more I have a firm, restful foundation in the fact that I'm his and he's mine. And nothing's ever going to change that. Because as we're told in the book of Romans chapter eight, nothing can separate us from the love of God,

neither height nor depth. Nor length, nor width, nor anything is going to separate me from the love of Jesus Christ. I think I've shared this before, but when I first started walking with Jesus, after I had spent a good deal of my life in rebellion, a good deal of my time in rebellion against the Lord, when I started walking with Jesus again, my junior year of high school, I started reading the book of Romans. Not much makes sense to me in the book of Romans because it's a pretty theological book. But I remember coming to that verse about how nothing can

separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. And I remember going, now that I get. And I was so happy to read that. Matter of fact, I cannot find the Bible that I did all that initial reading in. It got lost in a move at some point in time. But I remember specifically writing in the margin of that Bible or even living in rebellion. None of those things can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, I have great rest in him. And my walk is now founded on that rest in him. And now I walk with him. And I remember going, now that I get. And I was so happy to read that. So I walk with him, not hoping that he's going to accept me, but knowing that he already has because of the blood of Jesus. But not only is my walk founded in my rest in Jesus Christ, but my work is founded in rest. What do you mean by that, Ryan? Well, this is what

I mean. It means that as I serve the Lord now, I'm not serving the Lord hoping to earn a place in the kingdom of heaven. I serve the Lord knowing that I already have a place in the kingdom of heaven. I now do my work that I do for Jesus Christ because of what he's done for me, not so that I can earn what he's done for me. And so as I do the things that I do for him, I do so

enthusiastically. I do so with great joy because I know that it's the least I can do to show my great love for what he's done for me, to offer him my life. He loves me, and that's not going to change. And so the work that I do is founded in my rest in him. And so my question for you is this. Are you resting in the Lord tonight? Now, some of y'all may be resting in the Lord

later, and that's okay. If you fall asleep, I totally get that. Sleep on. It's like Tom Mouch told me in a class in Bible college. He said, that's okay, son. Sleep on, which I wholeheartedly believed. But I wonder if you're really resting in the Lord tonight, or if you find yourself saying, I hope I'm going to be good enough. I hope I've done enough. I hope I can be who God wants me to be.

Listen, you can't be. There's only one way that you can be good enough, and that's to put all of your faith in the only one who is, and that's Jesus. And so if you're always trying to achieve, if you're always trying to earn, and you feel like you're just running on the treadmill of works, it's time to get off the treadmill of works and start walking with Jesus by resting in him. And so he gives this principle of rest to the children of Israel. He reminds them

before they go into the church, they're going to go to the church. They're going to go to the the importance of the Sabbath, because he knew the kind of work that was going to go into the tabernacle, and that they were going to need to be reminded to rest. So after he deals with the Sabbath, he now talks about this offering for the tabernacle. Notice what he says in verse four.

It says, Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, this is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying, take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as the Lord has commanded. This is the Lord's contribution, gold, silver, and bronze, and blue, and purple, and scarlet material, fine linen, goat's hair, ram skins dyed red, and porpoise skins, and acacia wood, oil for lighting, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones, and setting stones for the ephod, and for the breastpiece. And so he says, for all of these things that you're going to need for the baby, you're going to need a lot of things. And so he

says, take a contribution from among the people. Now, I appreciate this because God could have provided that stuff any way that he wanted to. If God would have wanted to, he could have just gone, there's all the things you need for the tabernacle. And they could have gone, oh my gosh, that's just so amazing. It's all just right there in front of us. God's powerful enough to do that.

If he spoke the world into existence, he could surely speak into existence a couple of pieces of acacia wood, right? But that's not what God did. What did he do? He did something. He did something. He did something. He did something. He did something. He did something. He did something. He did something. What did God do? God got the people involved. He said, this is your tabernacle. I want you to be

involved in the building of it. Matter of fact, so involved that I want you to be even involved in the contribution of the things that go into the building of the tabernacle. I love this because God always gets people involved in the ministry. God always gets people involved in service. I think about this with what we're called to with the Great Commission. We are called to make

disciples. Could Jesus make disciples all by himself without using us? Absolutely. The Holy Spirit is big enough that he could come down and move on the hearts of people and people could get saved without ever using us. But that's not what God wants to do. What God wants to do is he wants to use us as fallen human beings so that we can experience the joy of seeing someone

come to know the Lord ourselves. He likes to get us involved. And so that's exactly what God tells the children of Israel to do. He says, I want you to get involved. And then, of course, he gives the list, all the things that are needed for the building of the tabernacle, the jewels, the gold, the materials, the skins, and all this kind of stuff. He gives that whole listing, and we'll talk about that in just a moment. But the thing I want

you to pay attention to is that there was one requirement to bring a contribution to the Lord. Did you pick up on what that one requirement was? Let me read it to you again in verse 5. Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Take note here. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as the Lord's. Contribution. Did you take note of the one requirement that it took in order to bring a

contribution to the Lord? Your heart had to be willing. In other words, God did not want anyone bringing anything to the tabernacle to be used in the service of him with a grudging heart, with a heart that's like, fine, I'll give God this, but don't ask me for anything else. Because God wanted their heart to be so willing that it was a joy to them. And, of course,

it reminds us all of what it says in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7, that God loves a cheerful giver. And I've given you my Chuck Smith version of that, right? That what he really says there is God loves a hilarious giver. And for those of us that had to listen to Chuck through the Bible, you would hear this a lot of times. He'd say, God loves a cheerful giver. Cheerful. Hilarious. But eventually we had to speed him up because that took forever to listen

to the Bible. So we listened to him on fast speed. So he'd say, God loves a cheerful giver. Hilarious. And it was the funniest thing you'd ever heard. And you'd be like, of course I want to give. I just heard chipmunks say, give to the Lord in a hilarious sort of way. It's the best thing I can come up with doing. And that's what God wants for us is he wants our hearts to be so overjoyed.

That we're giving to the work of the Lord because ultimately it all came from him. And ultimately it all belongs to him. So why not honor him with it? And so he tells them, take up a collection that's a contribution to the Lord for the construction of the temple, but it needs to be with a willing heart. Now he makes the people aware of the need. And once you notice how the

people respond, verse 10, let every skillful man among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded. The tabernacle, its tent, its coverings, its hooks, its boards, its pillars, its bars, its sockets, the ark, its poles, the mercy seat. It's going to get mildly repetitive here. The curtain of the screen, the table, its poles, all the utensils, the bread of the presence, the lampstand for the light, its utensils and its lamp for the oil or oil for the light, the altar of incense and its poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense and the screen for the doorway at the entrance of the tabernacle.

The altar of the burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils, the basin and its stand, the hangings of the court, its pillars and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, the pegs, the tabernacle and the pegs of the court and their cords, the woven garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to minister as priests. Well, before the people respond, I got ahead of myself. It's a little bit. He makes the people aware of the need. Now, I think this is an important thing to do

because as he makes them aware of the need, they then know what needs to be given. I don't think there's anything wrong with making people aware of the need. That way they can then allow the Lord to do the work in their heart. But I want you to notice what Moses does. After he makes the people aware of the need and says anyone with a willing heart can give, take note of the fact that he does

not take up a collection immediately. What does he do? Verse 20, all the congregation of the sons of Moses started from Moses's presence. Well, clearly he's not taking church growth seminars because you know from every seminar that if you're going to ask for a collection, you'd better take it right then because that's when their hearts are the most ready to give. Once you've worked

them into an emotional frenzy, let them know what the need is. You then begin to beg them and say, listen, God's work is going to fall apart. If you don't give right now, I'll pass the bucket right away. You see, that would be giving in a grudging sort of way. That would be manipulating on the part of Moses, but he doesn't do that. What does he do? He sends them home. Why does Moses

send them home? Because he wants them to pray and seek the Lord and ask God to show them what they are supposed to give to the work of the tabernacle. You see, this is a step of faith on the part of Moses. He knows what he needs to build the tabernacle. And quite frankly, it was millions of dollars worth of stuff. That's what he needed to build the tabernacle. And it would have been

easy for him to be manipulative at this point in time and continue to coerce the people to give, but he doesn't do that. What does he do? He takes a step of faith. He says, Lord, it's your tabernacle. I'm going to trust that you'll provide what it takes to build this tabernacle. I've let the people know the need. Now you work on their hearts as you see fit. And so the people went

home. And you know what I think the people did when they went home? When they went back to their tent that night, they probably prayed about it. Lord, what do you want me to give? How do you want to work in this? And then as they did so, they come back and they begin to give. Notice what it says in verse 21. Everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him came forward and brought

the Lord's contribution for the work of the tent of meeting, for all its service and the holy garments. Then all whose hearts moved them, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and bracelets, all articles of gold. Every man who presented an offering of gold to the Lord, every man who had in his possession blue and purple and scarlet material distribution, sun and blue and purple and scarlet material and fine linen. All the women whose heart stirred with skill spun the goat's hair. The rulers brought

the onyx stones and the stones for the setting of the ephod and for the breastpiece and the spice and the oil for light and for the anointing oil. And so God's spirit was at work in their heart. Because they had repented, were restored, and now had been renewed. And now God's spirit was at work in their hearts again. Because that's what God's spirit does. I'm reminded of that

psalm where David prays, creating me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me, cast me not away from your presence, take not your Holy Spirit from me, restoring to me the joy of your salvation. I think that's what has happened in the nation of Israel. Because they had corporately repented, they were corporately restored, and now had been corporately renewed. The Holy Spirit was now still at work in this nation and their hearts were stirred.

Do you notice how each of them brought something kind of different? Each one's contribution was a little bit different because God moves in each of our hearts in a different way, which I think is another interesting point to be made. We need to leave room for the Holy Spirit in every way possible to move on our heart in a different way than he moves on the person's heart next to us. Because the conviction for me with certain things may be different than the conviction for someone else, even though it's the same Holy Spirit. And so God's spirit is at work and he

begins to move on the hearts of the people and they respond by allowing God to stir their hearts. But now it's time to set aside the workmen. Notice what it says in verse 30. Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, see the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And he has filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge

and in all craftsmanship to make designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carving of wood so as to perform in every inventive work. He has also put in his heart to teach both he and Aholiab, which is my favorite name. The son of Ahissamach, I'm mistaken, that's my favorite, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer in blue and purple, scarlet material and fine linen and of a weaver as performers of every work and makers of designs. A few things that I want to unpack here about these guys.

First of all, can you imagine being Bezalel right now, standing out there in the congregation of the people and Moses is making the proclamation of all the things that are going on and he says, and God has said, set apart to me Bezalel. You know, that dude was like, am I the Bezalel you're talking about? I wonder if there was more than one. I bet there was, which is why he was like, Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. At that

point in time, he's like, that's what my mom used to write in my underwear all the time. I've got to be the guy. So can you imagine? He says, listen, Bezalel, here's what God's done. Take note of this. He says he has filled him with the spirit of God. This is one of the first times this is used in the Bible. One of the first men that says is filled with the spirit of God.

This is an amazing statement that's made about this guy, because this guy is not being filled with the spirit of God so that he can go and perform miracles. He's not being filled with the spirit of God so that he can go lead the entire congregation of the nation of Israel. He's not being filled with the spirit of God so that he can prophesy the word of God. What's he filled with the spirit of God for? The work of a craftsman. Now that should tell us

something. That should tell us that there is no such thing as an unimportant person in the body of Christ. Because you may be thinking to yourself, well, I don't really know how to serve God because I can't teach a Bible study. I don't like little kids, so I can't really teach a kids class. I really am not one who likes to be in front of people, so I really can't be used by God.

But what this tells us is that no matter what your calling and occupation is, if you are filled with the spirit, you can be used by God. And you can do so in a very spirit-filled sort of way. I got to tell you, I have a good friend that's a mechanic, and he is filled with the spirit of God as a mechanic, because he is a wonderful kid in the way that he takes care of me. And I'm like, that's a pretty beautiful thing that you know how to fix that, because I don't even know what that is. You know? And so it's like, man, that's, he's filled with the spirit of God. And I'm like,

man, where am I? Because I've got a built-in showroom right now. Let's use all my power and strength and with God's everything, will I have a really good job at that showroom? I call it the spirit of God. I look at people that have the ability to build things and do a really good job at it. And you go, you're filled with the spirit of God in a way that you're able to do that. And

so whatever your occupation is, whatever your gifting is, allow God to fill you with his spirit, because these guys were filled with the spirit of God in order to do what they did. They, others what they were doing. That's what it says right there. He says, he also, verse 34, has put in his heart to teach both he and Aholiab, the son of Ahissamach of the tribe of Dan. What

does that mean? It means that those weren't the only two guys who could do all of the work. They were the ones in charge of the work. They were the ones who had set the vision for the work, but ultimately, they would also teach other people how to do what they were doing so that everybody could get involved. And so, he calls these guys to do this work, to be craftsmen, to do this work of the tabernacle, but it kind of made me think about

us. And when I thought about who we are, wait, there's one more point I want to make about these guys before I get to this next point, and it's an important one. Because not only were they filled with the Spirit, they were filled with the Spirit, and they were filled with the Spirit, not only were they teaching other people, but they were surrendered and obedient to the Lord. Because take note of what it says about the way that they would build. Jump down to chapter 36,

verse 1. It says, Now Bezalel and Aholiab, and every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. You see, because not only were they filled with the Spirit, but they were surrendered to the Lord. And so, they were surrendered and obedient to the Lord. You see, these guys were filled with the ability to be able

to build things, and it would be easy when you're good at that sort of thing to say, I understand where God was going with this, but I think I have a better idea. I think I could make this a little bit better if I throw a little of my artistic skill into it. And God goes, I don't need you to do that. I need you to do it exactly the way I want you to do it. Because how many times did he

tell Moses, the way that I showed you on the mountain, that's the way it's supposed to be. These guys were surrendered in the way that they did their work. But it made me think about something, and that's the fact that each of us here has a gifting and a talent. And that gifting and talent is really good, but when that gifting and talent is in the hands of God and empowered by the Spirit, it becomes a very spiritual thing that you're able to do. Kind of like my friend

who's a mechanic, and he's able to do mechanic work in the name of Jesus because it's a part of life. Perhaps you have that ability to work with your hands, and you may think to yourself, I don't know how to teach a Bible study. That's okay. If you can mow someone's lawn in the name of Jesus, that gifting and that talent, then all of a sudden, what the rest of the world may look at is just a physical thing that you do has now become something spiritual because you've been empowered by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit to do something that actually serves the Lord.

I think sometimes we limit the giftings of the Holy Spirit to only doing something within the four walls of it. And I think that's a very good thing. And I think that's a very good thing. Meanwhile, God wants to take us outside the four walls of a church and do things that look very practical in nature that spread the love of Jesus Christ if those giftings and talents are in the hands of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because that's what God wants to do with us.

And that's what God does with these guys, is he empowers them to do this. Now, we jump down here to verse two. It says, Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill. Everyone whose heart stirred him to come to the work to perform it. And they received from Moses all the contribution with the sons of Israel had brought to perform the work in the construction

of the sanctuary. And they still continued bringing to him free will offerings. And all the skillful men who were performing all the work in the work of the sanctuary, each came for the work which he was performing. The next thing I want to point out to you is this. It took a lot of people to do the work of the sanctuary. It took a lot of people to do the work of the sanctuary.

And each person played their part. Take note of a few different things. Because if you were to look at 35 verse 10, notice what it says. Let every skillful man among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded. 35 verse 20, or excuse me, 35 verse 23. Every man who had in his possession brought things to the Lord. Verse 24. Everyone who could make a contribution brought their

contribution to the Lord. Verse 25. All the skilled women spun with their hands. Verse 29. All the men and women whose heart was moved brought their free will offering to the Lord. You take note of that? You take note of the fact that each person played their part even though every person's part looked a little bit different? Does that remind you of anything? I hope that

reminds you of the body of Christ. Because within the body of Christ, each of us plays a very different role. But each of the roles that we play is really, really important. As a matter of fact, there's no such thing as an unimportant part in the body of Christ. Just like there's no unimportant part in my life. There's no such thing as an unimportant part in my life.

Everybody had to play their own part. And that's exactly what took place for the construction of the temple. I think the important thing for us as the church to do, and for me as a pastor to do, is to unleash people to do that which God has called for them to do. Whatever it is to unleash you to say, use that gifting and talent and start doing something with it. Because that's what makes

up a church. And so that's what Moses did with the people. Each person played their part, even though Aholiab and Bezalel were the ones in charge. Each person played their part within the construction of the tabernacle. Now, as we come to verse five, we take note of just how much the people brought. Actually, start in verse four. It says, And all the skillful men who were performing all the work of the sanctuary came,

each from the work which he was performing. And they said to Moses, the people are bringing much more than enough for the construction, work which the Lord commanded us to perform. So Moses issued a command and a proclamation was circulated throughout the camp saying, let no man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary. Thus, the people were restrained from bringing any more for the material they had was sufficient and more than enough for all the work to perform it.

I appreciate what J. Vernon McGee had to say about this verse. He said, that is the first time and the last time you will ever read that God said, stop bringing contributions. Isn't that great? I love the way God stirred the hearts of the people. You can imagine it, right? As they're bringing stuff in, the workers are trying to stack all the gold over here, put the porpoise skins over there,

put the goat's hair over here, and they're trying to find the room for everything. And finally, they said, that's too much. They need to be able to use all the building materials that we've got. You need to tell the people they need to stop making contributions because we not only have enough, but we have more than enough. And may I say, when God moves on the hearts of his people, you don't have to worry because

there's always more than enough of whatever it is that you need. I don't know how many times we've had a meal that we had to prepare for a funeral meal or something like that. And we said, hey, we need this much. And all of a sudden they're going, tell them, don't bring any more because we've got too much here, which is a really good problem to have, right?

And that's exactly what took place here. But it reminds me of a scriptural principle. Perhaps you're thinking of the verse as well. And it's out of the book of Ephesians, chapter three, verse 20. It says that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think. I think sometimes it's easy for us to put a limit on God. I bet when Moses started asking for,

he expected that he might have to send out another text. He might have to shoot another email around to make sure that there was going to be enough. Perhaps was even a little concerned in the back of his mind that while he was taking that step of faith, God, he would probably have to come at it again. Because as much faith as we've got, sometimes it's a little hard to remember that God's still bigger. I was actually having a conversation with a good friend of mine last

night about this very thing. And he said, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. He was a young man that owns the barbecue place up in Winfield. And we were talking about going through pandemic and trusting God. And he said, you know, we got down to our last $500 for the business. I hope it's

okay that I shared this. I didn't ask him. Oh, well, he can forgive me later. He said, we got down to our last $500 in the middle of pandemic. And of course, no place could open up their doors for people to come in and sit down. He said, my wife said, cut a hole in the side of the building and put in a window. And he said, that seems like a bad idea. He said, but we prayed about it and felt like it was the right thing to do. He said,

so I used the last of our money to put in a window. And he said, you know what? We made more by offering a drive-through service than we had made up to that point in time that year. He said, I don't know why I doubt God. I don't know why I have a hard time believing that in the midst of all of it, I said, you held strong through pandemic. He goes, don't get me wrong. I was freaking out. He said, because we didn't know what we were going to do a

few times. He said, but God supplied more than we ever thought possible because all we could do was seek him through that whole time. Brothers and sisters, I think sometimes we limit God. Sometimes I think we limit what he wants to do in our lives. And I don't just mean in a material or physical sort of way. I believe that God wants to provide for us in those ways because God knows

what we need. But I think sometimes in our culture, we put too much emphasis on how God wants to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think in a material sort of way. Again, God wants to provide for us. And right now, as I look and I look at shipping container issues and is there going to be enough at Christmas time? Is there going to be enough food? I'm reminded of this

truth. I'm reminded of the fact that God's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. And all we need to do is trust him. Because in the middle of one of the worst droughts anyone had ever seen, Elisha and the widow that he lived with never ran out of food. God actually dropped Elijah food from the mouths of ravens. And maybe that's what God wants to do. Would that not be the sweetest thing

in the world? You're just sitting there at your house and ravens are like, and just dropping food on you. It'd be amazing, right? But God could do that kind of thing. But you see, more than anything, what God wants to show us is that spiritually, he can do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. You may be thinking to yourself right now, I have an area of struggle in my life

and I'm never going to get past it. I'm always going to have that struggle. I'm always going to deal with that temptation in my life. And you know what God wants to tell you? He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you could ever ask or think. Where not only is he going to give you victory, but it'll be a complete victory that will come to you. And that's what God wants to

do. He'll bring honor and glory to the name of the Lord. Perhaps you have a strong desire to get into God's word, but every time you open it, you're like, I can't even understand half the stuff I'm reading. And I just want to give up. But God wants to do exceedingly abundantly above all you can ever ask or think, because he not only wants to get you into the word to where you say,

I actually understand what that says, but he wants to speak to you in deep ways. Ways that will show you that God is so much more clear than you ever even knew possible. He's so much more amazing than you ever knew possible. I remember when I was in the heart, in the heat of all of the anxiety that I was going through in my life. And all I thought was, I'm never going to really be able to get anything out of scripture

again, because every time I'd open the word, it was just words on a page. And I would almost have an anxiety attack trying to figure out what God was trying to say. And all I could do was sit down and pray, Lord, heal my mind. Heal my mind. That's what I need you to do for me. And I remember reading in the book of Colossians, sitting on a couch in my parents' basement,

and all of a sudden, things were making sense. And I was like, the cross right there in the book of Colossians. And from that point on, God started speaking to me in even deeper and clearer ways, because he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. Perhaps you have broken relationships right now, either broken relationships with the Lord or broken relationships with people, and you think, that's never going to be healed. God wants to do

exceedingly abundantly above all you can ever ask or think, because God not only wants to restore that relationship, he wants to renew that relationship and make it like it was in the very beginning. But it takes us taking those things to the Lord. And in the same way that Moses had to tell the people, now you go home and let God do what he's going to do in your heart, we have to have that same kind of faith. Lord, you do what, you are going to do. And you know what he's able to do? I think you know what I'm going to say here.

Exceedingly abundantly above all you could ever ask or think, because that's who God is. He's the God that we can rest in, and he's the God who continues to work beyond anything we can imagine. Amen? Father, we come before you, and I just thank you for the time that we've had in your word. Lord, I thank you for how good you are to us. Lord, I thank you for how you minister to us.

And Lord, I thank you for the example that we see, of your healing, your restoration, and your preparation. And so Lord, do your work in our hearts that you see fit, work that we can't even imagine right now. Lord, for those who feel like they have some impossibilities in their life, Lord, may they see those impossibilities through your eyes. Lord, may they see those impossibilities through the eyes of a God who can do exceedingly abundantly more.

And so God, do that work, and God, in the hearts that are seeking it right now. And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.