Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Well, if I have not met you, my name is, uh, fryer Michael fueling <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:00:11 A. Anybody who like, like, uh, uh, parachutes into this sermon, uh, one or five years from now will be like, what is, what is happening behind him and the amount of outfits that you have suggested that I wear this morning to preach? Um, man, somebody came into my office right before and their, their mother had knit, um, uh, a wool, it looks like a coat of mail or whatever, like, but just that goes over your, your head. And, uh, somebody had a great idea that this week I would have a coat of mail, but it would just be a coat made of mail. I thought that was, I thought that was pretty clever. I may still show up in that. Um, but, uh, welcome. Uh, we, we've been talking this week about how funny it would be if this was your first Sunday at Village Church.
Speaker 1 00:00:52 And, uh, you walk in not knowing it's VBS week, and then you think, is this what they usually do? Um, welcome if you are new. All right. Um, we are in the, we're in a series in the book of Leviticus. If you have your Bibles, you can open up to, not Leviticus, but I want you to open up your Bibles to, uh, the book of Exodus one book before that chapter 40. Um, there, there are some days that change your life forever. And if, if, if it's a good day, we call this a milestone day. We call it a milestone. It's a day that after these things are done, your life will kind of never be the same. And so if you go back in your head to when you graduated, maybe, uh, junior high and you went into high school, like nothing was ever the same.
Speaker 1 00:01:34 Like that is a massive milestone day for every student who goes through it. You have the, the safety of your middle school world, and then all of a sudden you are with seniors in high school and juniors and they're bigger and scarier. It is a whole new world. And here's what you know, you can never go back or, or when you graduated high school and whether you went on to further education, whether you got a job like here's what you know, like life is never going to be the same after that moment. Most, most milestones we don't choose, but there are a few that we do get to choose. 20 years ago, next week, Brianne and I stood, uh, right there and then right here, and we got married. And from that day forward, we, uh, decided mutually that we would join our lives and our stories and we would bind them together till death do us part. And her life has never been the same ever since. And then there was one kid, and then there was two kids, and then there was three kids. And then, I'm kidding. We're gonna stop right there.
Speaker 1 00:02:43 Now, some of you were like, what? No, four she'll die. I know. Do you know what the biggest, most significant milestone event of your entire life is? It it is the day that you personally decided to trust in Christ. You can never go back. It's not a theological or practical option. You can't lose your salvation. Once you get it from the moment you trust in Christ, your eternal destiny is forever shifted and change. And this is the most significant milestone any person can ever go through. And, and there is, there is a day when, when, when you realize not only is Jesus God, not only did he die for your sins in your place, not only was he raised from the dead, not only is there no other way to eternal life of forgiveness, uh, but through him, but there's that day where that you actually realize, oh no, I am a sinner and God and I are not okay.
Speaker 1 00:03:39 And you went to God on his terms and you apologized and you told him, forgive me. I've sinned. I believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for my sins in my place that is hands down the most consequential day in your life. And, and if you have never, ever trusted in Jesus Christ, I think the best way to make the most sense of this message is, is for you to understand that God wants you to personally trust in him and experience this milestone because it is and will be the most significant day of your life, period. It is more significant than the best day of your life, your wedding day, your first kid, your fifth kid, your grandkids, you name it. This will be the most significant milestone day of your life. Now, in the book of Leviticus, we are in chapters eight through 10.
Speaker 1 00:04:25 We're in a miniseries called priests, and we're looking at the inauguration and the duties of Old Testament Jewish priests. And, and, and we're gonna also look at somehow we're gonna see how this actually applies to our lives today. And, and Leviticus nine, it is not just a milestone day for the nation of Israel, but I would contend that what happens in Leviticus nine is the most important day in the history of the nation of Israel, maybe second to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What happens on this day in Leviticus nine is going to change the entire trajectory of this nations experience forever. And they will never be able to go back. And Israel from this day forward is going to have a new normal for one and a half millennia until the Messiah, his name is Jesus, actually comes, dies, and raises from the dead.
Speaker 1 00:05:23 All right, so Exodus 40, remember we have to look there first in order to understand the next two weeks. In Leviticus chapter nine and verse 10, we have to get our heads around what is happening in Exodus 40. And start in verse 16. Here's what it says, this Moses did According to all that the Lord commanded him. So he did. Now, what did Moses do? Here's what he did. He assembled the tabernacle. This is a big tent where the presence of God is going to dwell. And it seems from the, from the text that Moses did all of this by himself, the frames, the poles, the pillars, he spread out the tent, he put the Ark of the covenant inside the Holy of Holies, which was a room instead of a room inside of the tent. He set up all the furniture in on the inside.
Speaker 1 00:06:06 He then went to the outside of the tent, he sets everything up and then verse 33 says this, and he erected the court around the tabernacle. So the tabernacle is the tent and there's a court all around it. And the altar, the altar is outside of the tent, but it's inside the court. And he set up the screen of the gate of the court. So you can't just like, I dunno, like hop, skip and jump into the court. You actually have to go through a screen to get in. So Moses finished the work. Now, the entire book of Exodus, it's building up to this point. God had to free this nation from Egypt. He had to bring them into the wilderness. He had to give them a whole bunch of laws. He had to instruct them how to actually build a tabernacle. He's been preparing for the priests.
Speaker 1 00:06:51 But so far, none of this has been instituted or activated yet. None of it. It has all been preparation up until Leviticus chapter nine in the book of Exodus. It ends Chapter 40 is the last chapter, and here's the end of chapter 40, verses 34 and 35. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Okay, so Pastor Michael, why are we even looking at Exodus 40? Because Leviticus chapters eight, nine, and 10 tell you the events of what happened right before Exodus 40, verses 34 and 35, and the events that happened immediately after the glory of God in Exodus chapter 40, verses 34 and 35 filled the temple. All right, now go with me to Leviticus chapter nine.
Speaker 1 00:07:57 We've said this isn't just a milestone day. This is the milestone day for the nation of Israel. And lemme just give you a short list of all of the things that are gonna be activated for the first time. In Leviticus chapter nine, we have the sacrificial system is going to be activated, the five offerings. Remember we studied Leviticus Chapters one through six, we looked at the five offerings there. They are going to be activated on this day, and they're gonna endure until the coming of the Messiah. The office of priests is officially going to be activated in Leviticus nine, and it's going to endure until the coming of the Messiah. The tabernacle that they have been building will be forever off limits to everybody except for the priests, until the death of the Messiah. One and a half millennia later. The blessings of this law will be accessible as of this day, as of Leviticus nine, uh, some of the blessings, this is the tip of the iceberg, proximity to God's presence, protection, forgiveness, so much more.
Speaker 1 00:08:59 All of these will be accessible until the coming of the Messiah when the law would be retired. The curses of the law are officially going to be in enforced, activated in Leviticus nine for all those who disobey the words of the law until the coming of the Messiah. And when this law would officially be retired, all of this is getting activated. So, so far in Exodus and Leviticus, everything has been preparation, no has been activated officially in the life of the nation yet. And so today, Leviticus nine, it's the day Leviticus chapter nine verse one. Moses walks up to the tabernacle court. Here's what it says. On the eighth day, Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. And he said to them, take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish and offer them before the Lord.
Speaker 1 00:10:00 Now, why does this say the eighth day? Because in Leviticus eight, what we saw last week is that Aaron and his sons, they have been outside the tent, the tabernacle, but inside the courtyard for seven days straight, consecrating their bodies, their hearts, and their minds for a lifetime of priestly ministry. You have to remember in Leviticus eight, they weren't yet priests. Now in Leviticus nine, they are gonna be consecrated for the very first time. And so God says, go, I want you to consecrate yourselves, prepare yourselves for seven days. Here's what I find fascinating. When they went into the courtyard, they had to offer a sin offering. And if you remember, a sin offering is for unintentional sin. And and we get this, maybe before they went in, they made some mistakes. Maybe they did something on accident and they go in. But what I love about this is when they come out, do you know what they have to do?
Speaker 1 00:10:56 They have to, they have to offer another sin offering. And, and, and maybe there's this impulse in us that thinks, what could they have possibly done in those seven days where they would need another offering for sin? I mean, aren't they supposed to be focused consecrating themselves in prayer? Aren't they supposed to be like focused on the Lord? Like who sins? When you are in a season of consecration for seven days, does anybody else have siblings in this room? If you put me in one small area with my siblings for seven days, I guarantee you that there is going to be unintentional sin, maybe even the possibility of intentional sin. Now, I love my brothers, but you know, this family has a way of just being together. And I I just appreciate this, that, that the Lord knows. It does not matter how disciplined you are.
Speaker 1 00:11:46 It does not matter how godly you are, how focused you are, how intentional you are, how intentional you are to consecrate yourselves. If you notice that even when you're praying and reading the Bible, your brain just filters off. And then even sometimes little sins just pop up and you're like, I didn't even realize I was having this bitterness or this frustration or this anger or this jealousy or whatever it is. And even when you're focused, the reality of our sin, nature just constantly creeps up. And it's with us and the Lord, the Lord let them know the consequences of failure. One chapter earlier, and I want, I wanna just read this, I wanna make sure you remember this. They, they need to be forgiven, they need to be cleansed. And it says this, at the entrance of the tent, Leviticus 8 35, at the entrance of the tent, you shall remain day and night for seven days performing what the Lord has charged so that you do not die for.
Speaker 1 00:12:41 So I've been commanded, okay, verse verse three. It moves on from the sin offering and the burnt offering they're making for themselves the priest. This is day eight, this is the day it's all gonna start and, and now it's gonna move to sacrifices for the entire nation. It says in say to the people of Israel, take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish for a burnt offering and an ox and a ram for a peace offering to sacrifice before the Lord and a grain offering mixed with oil. All right, pop quiz, how many offerings did we look at so far in Leviticus chapters one through six or seven, five. Good job, right? Of the five, he's commanding four of them to be offered for the consecration and for the cleansing and for the forgiveness of the entire nation because it's not just the priests who are gonna be drawing near to the presence of God, he is calling the entire nation to come toward this tabernacle.
Speaker 1 00:13:40 Why, why, why? All this work, verse four tells us for today, the Lord will appear to you. Let me translate this. For the first time in human history, since the Garden of Eden, God's very presence is going to dwell in the midst of people. And he looks at Israel and says, you are the people Leviticus nine. It's, it's not just the inauguration day of the priests and the law and all of these other really interesting Old Testament details. It is the inauguration of the presence of God in the midst of his people. And, and I need you to catch this. There is nothing in the world more dangerous for sinners than the presence of God. It's so dangerous that God in his mercy expelled Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden once sin became known and put an angel there blocking it with swords so that no fallen human being would have proximity to the presence of God.
Speaker 1 00:15:00 Because what happens when sinners find themselves in the presence of the glory of God, they get incinerated. So God is called the nation of Israel, the elders, Aaron, Aaron's sons and Moses, a million plus people to draw near in proximity to the very presence of God. And, and, and Yahweh knows this, the people don't yet understand this. Everything must be perfect, because if it's not perfect, people will die. And God's intention is that when you draw near that you are not killed by the glory of God, but that you are blessed as you enter proximity to the presence of God. Look at verse five. They brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting and all the congregation drew near and they stood before the Lord. They have no idea what's coming. Moses said, this is the thing the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you. The Hebrew word for glory is kavod, K O K A V O D. And literally the word glory means weight. And and it refers to the emotional impact of the weight of what it feels like when you're in the presence of the glory of God. So the first person to ever experience a glimpse of God's glory, it was so heavy on their soul that they named it after the experience. Let me, let me illustrate it. I want you to think of your greatest fear.
Speaker 1 00:17:00 Now, I want you to imagine some of you're like, Nope, not doing it, not not having it. I want you to think about your best friend's, greatest fear <laugh>. And I want you to think about them facing it. How heavy is the anxiety on the chest of a person facing their greatest fear? Your heart races, your chest is heavy, your knees shake, blood rushes to your head, and this thing feels like a ton of bricks on your soul. Some, some of you have had the unfortunate, um, experience of losing somebody that your soul deeply loves. What is the experience? It it, it feels like your, your soul is being crushed. It feels like there's a weight on your chest and you just wanna pull it off, but it's too heavy to get off of you. So you can't, the glory of God, it feels like a crushing weight on a sinner's soul.
Speaker 1 00:18:06 And, and again, whoever named the glory of God named it after the experience, whatever this thing is, it is so heavy that I cannot physically carry it. And what's interesting about the glory of God is that the closer you get to it, the more dangerous it becomes, the heavier it is on your soul. Now, the, the glory of God, here's what it looks like. The glory of God looks like pure light and, and not just any light, it is light that is so powerful that it is blinding and it is unapproachable here. Here's how first Timothy, chapter six, Paul describes it this way. He, he who is the blessed and the only sovereign, the king of kings, the Lord of lords, who alone has immor immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. Th this is his description of what the presence of God is like out of his presence, emanates bright, blinding, glorious light, and, and it, it's so heavy that the human being has to stay far away from it because it gets more and more weighty and dangerous the closer you actually get to it.
Speaker 1 00:19:25 In, in fact, there are a handful of people who had the ability to maybe see the glory of God. And what you're gonna notice in scripture is that all of them saw or experienced the glory of God, not necessarily in person, but through dreams and visions, Isaiah, Paul, John, et cetera. God was too merciful and too kind to actually subject their fallen bodies to the very actual proximity of the glory of God. So visions and dreams would have to, would have to do bodies impacted by sin. They cannot endure the weight of the glory of God. And so the reason why everything needs to be perfect is because God realizes that if sinners in him are gonna be in relationship, they need to be cleansed and forgiven before they enter into his presence. In verses seven to 21, Aaron, in his sons, they offer all the sacrifices.
Speaker 1 00:20:21 Thank God they offer them all in the right way. Verse seven, here's what it says. After each offering as the Lord commanded, verse eight, as the Lord commanded Moses, verse 16 and offered it according to the rule, verse 21, as Moses commanded, God's glory is being cleansed. They need to do this the right way because the consequences if they don't are going to be devastating. Now look at verse 23. Moses and Aaron, they went into the tent of meeting. Remember, the glory of God has not fallen yet. And when they came out, they blessed the people and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. It's interesting. The glory doesn't touch the people. The glory is at a distance. Now, what did the glory look like? Verse 24, fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar.
Speaker 1 00:21:22 Do, do you guys remember when God told Moses that the fire on the altar could never go out, ever. It was to be lit perpetually who lit the fire for the very first time, the very presence of God. And this fire was a perpetual reminder that God's hand was extended to sinners. I want proximity and relationship with you, but it's gotta be on his terms, not your own. And if you want proximity to God, then you need to be able to bring an offering for the forgiveness of your sins. Now, this is before Jesus. Now here's my question. I'm reading this and I'm thinking, so was it a little fire? Was it a big fire? How hot was the fire? You guys ever been to a concert where like the pyrotechnics on the stage, they like, they light up and you're like a hundred yards away and you can actually feel the heat of it.
Speaker 1 00:22:15 Anyone else ever been in a circumstance like that? Like I, I wondered, did the fire just hover over the people's heads that like, I tend to think that God was a bit dramatic about it, and I, when I do get to heaven, I wanna say, can you replay the fire, how it came out? Did it go right to the altar or did it like, like buzz cup, a couple of people's head? I don't know. I wanna know exactly what happened. But we do know this. It was hot enough that it consumed the burnt offering in an instant, as well as all the fat, whatever the experience was for a million plus people, the text makes it very, very clear. It was unexpected, shocking, and petrifying. Verse 24 says, when the people saw it, they shouted and they fell on their faces. Now, shouting can really have one of two meetings, depends on the context.
Speaker 1 00:23:02 It can be a shout for joy or it can be squealing in fear. Which one do you think this is squealing in fear. Uh, also seen by the fact that they got on their faces because they were petrified. They had never imagined something could be as dangerous and as scary as the presence of God. And this is how the chapter ends. Next week we are gonna look at, or we're not done, but next week we're gonna look at what happens when two men test God and mess with his glory for now. Two. So whats, you might be wondering, how, how does inauguration day for the Old Testament Levitical law apply to us as Christians? The moment you trusted in Jesus, you were activated as a priest, no exceptions. Who's the high priest? Aaron and now Jesus. So under the new covenant, who are the priests?
Speaker 1 00:24:13 One Peter two, nine. Super clear. You Christian, you're a chosen race. You Christian are a royal priesthood. So what God, what God did is he orchestrates the Old Testament, um, story of Israel as physical images of coming, spiritual realities. Uh, Aaron was a high priest, but he was just a shadow and who cast the shadow. But Jesus and the priests were real and they had real jobs and real responsibilities. But who is casting the shadow of the priests? Christians are Christian. The moment you trusted in Christ, that was your inauguration day. On that day, you became a priest. A priest job is to help people access God. A priest's job is to be sort of a mediator to say, you are here, God's there. Let me help you get from here to there in proximity with God. That's what a priest's fundamental job is. In the moment.
Speaker 1 00:25:12 You trusted in Christ, you were filled with the very presence of God because the blood of Christ cleanse you. You were not destroyed by the Holy Spirit when he filled you. You have a job, and I want you to hear me. There are no exceptions to this rule. You might be a delinquent priest, but you are a priest. Nonetheless, every single Christian has the responsibility to help people who don't know God, meet God for the very first time. What is the job? First Peter two, nine tells us you're a royal priesthood, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so here's what priests do. We get really familiar with our personal testimony, this most significant milestone day of our life, the day when we were called out of a darkness into marvelous light. And and here's what we do.
Speaker 1 00:26:05 We tell the story, not just our conversion, but what Jesus did in our life and what Jesus can do in other people's lives. I do think you're one of the most powerful tools, and your evangelism arsenal is just you familiarizing yourself with your own personal story. For some people, like your day is dramatic. You have a milestone day. For some of you, you, you like were a Christian maybe for a while. And then maybe you grew up in a church and you realized when you were like 15 or 35, who knows? You're like, I think I'm a Christian. I think I trusted in Christ when I was younger. And you may not have a date, but that's part of your story. Your your story is one of the most powerful evangelism tools that you have in your, your arsenal. And apparently the priest job from first Peter chapter two verse nine is that you might proclaim the excellencies of him, the one who called you personally out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Speaker 1 00:26:54 And so we stop, we start with our families, we look at our children, we look at our grandchildren, and we say, my job is to familiarize myself with my story and make sure my family and my kids and my grandkids know my story. And that I can proclaim not the deficiencies of Christ, not the embarrassment of Christ, but the excellencies of Jesus, how good he is, how awesome he is, what he has done in our life. And we do it proudly without embarrassment. And, and then we pray for the Lord to bring opportunities to show the excellence of Jesus Christ to those who are around us. You cannot escape this reality. You don't have to have the gift of evangelism to be a priest. Uh, Paul says to Timothy, I love this line. Do the work of an evangelist. Why does he say that? Because it apparently isn't, isn't Timothy's natural inclination?
Speaker 1 00:27:45 And and I think this for some of us, like it's really easy. You could share the gospel with a brick wall and that wall would come to Christ, right? But for some of us, we're like, we are petrified of people. We don't, we don't even know how to tell our own story yet. And, and, and what he would say to you is, do the work of an evangelist. For some people it's work. For some people it's a little more challenging, it's a little more difficult. But it is our calling as priest. Now, one thing that I love about Leviticus nine, Aaron, the high priest and his sons, is that they have never done this before. They have no idea what they're doing. They, they don't know how it's gonna pan out. Uh, this is like, I, this is the first time they've ever offered these sacrifices in this way.
Speaker 1 00:28:29 This is the first time the stakes are this big. And I have great news for you. When you came to Christ, you had no idea what you were doing. And knowing what you're doing is not a prerequisite for doing it. Amen? Now, here's what you have. You have the word of God, which gives you what you need. You have the spirit of God, which gives you the power you need. You have the gospel. When you became a Christian, you believed in the gospel. And the gospel is the power of God for salvation. And you have relationships in your life where you get to talk about the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You have everything you need, even if you have no experience. And thankfully, you will not be consumed by fire and destroyed if you mess up.
Speaker 1 00:29:11 Thank you for the blood of Christ. Amen. Number two is priests savor the blessings given from your high priests. Jesus. We, we skipped over a couple verses, but one of the verses I wanna come back to is Leviticus chapter nine, verse 22. I wanna save this one for the end says this. Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and he blessed them and he's right near the altar. And the altar was built on a mound so that when the priest is on the altar, on the mound of the altar, he can see the people. Aaron lifts up his hands and he blesses the congregation. Do you know what he blessed them with? You? You've heard it before. Probably if you're semi-familiar with the Bible or you listen to Christian radio, you're gonna be familiar with this. God created and commanded a very specific blessing for the high priest to pray over the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1 00:30:13 And you actually find this in the Book of Numbers, chapter six, verse 23. He says, speak to Aaron and his son saying, thus, you shall bless the people of Israel. You shall say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Phil church, what does the presence of God bring to forgiven sinners? Look at verses 23 and 24. What's the point of this prayer in the heart of God for you to bless you, blessing, not cursing, not discipline, not wrath, not fury, not a fire that destroys you, not anger, but blessing. And what I appreciate about numbers six is that he shares just a, a couple of the blessings that God wants to give to his people who are forgiven, who approach him.
Speaker 1 00:31:27 Look at number six, verse 24, the Lord keep you. And this communicates God's protection and preservation over your soul. The Lord is your defender. He is your protector. He is your guardian. He is your leader. And he says, this is one of the blessings, is the protection of God over your soul. The Lord keep you. Look at verse 25, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And what the Lord wants to offer you is not cha just proximity to his presence, but the intimacy of his face. Now, if you've been paying attention, how scary is his face to an unforgiven sinner? It's petrifying, but to a forgiven sinner, it is a place of peace. I want you to listen to the way John describes the face of the glorified Jesus In Revelation one 14, his eyes were like a flame of fire that would petrify me.
Speaker 1 00:32:43 His voice was like the roar of many waters From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. And I love this. His face was like the sun shining in full strength. Verse 26 answers the, the question before we can ask it, will this face be safe for me? He says, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace of peace so that when the glorious shining face of Jesus Christ looks upon you, you are not petrified. John John described it this way. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand me and he said, I, I I was dead. Now I'm alive. I I I have the keys to death in Hades. I control all John, get up in my presence. You are safe because the blood of Christ has forgiven you. One of the things we learned by looking at the Old Testament and the New Testament is that, uh, the blood of bulls and goats, it could never save.
Speaker 1 00:33:56 Amen. It could never forgive you. It was never the point. It was a shadow that was cast by the substance who is the real ultimate forever sacrifice. That is Jesus, our high priest. And the blood of Christ is potent enough to forgive and to save anybody who calls on the name of Jesus. And the, and the promise is that for anybody who trusts in Christ, your sins are forgiven now and forever. And that you are transferred from the domain of darkness into the domain or the kingdom of his glorious son. And you can never be transferred back like this is a milestone day. This is the forever new future of your life. And what I love is that this, this offering of blessing, and in number six it was, it was important, but it takes on an entire new meaning for Christians. And then as we think about eternity, like right now, like the, the, the glory of God has veiled to a degree we see now in a glass dimly as Paul says, one day we're gonna see face, two face and we will not be incinerated by the glory of God, but because we will be forgiven of all of our sins like we are now, but then we're gonna have new bodies that are free from sin.
Speaker 1 00:35:05 And we get to dwell with God in the fullness of his glory without being incinerated forever.
Speaker 1 00:35:14 And this is the gift and the offering that God gives to any single person who trusts in Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins through the, through the blood of our high priest, Jesus, access and proximity relationship with God now through the Holy Spirit. And then one day full, complete total access on a new earth where we are rid of these sinful bodies. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ, today is the day I wanna just invite you. You can talk to God, you can tell him you are sorry. You can ask him to forgive you of your sins. But do you believe that Jesus Christ isn't just God, but he's your God that he died in the cross, not just for sins generally, but for your sins that he was raised from the dead. If you are there and you have never individually personally asked him to save you, I pray today is the day that you would do it. And you can be one of the few human beings on the planet who say, I heard a pastor preach through Leviticus and I met Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:36:12 What a great testimony for you, for you to have. I wanna, I wanna take a moment. I wanna pray over you. And uh, I also wanna pray over VBS this week because we have the joy to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to hundreds of kids, many of whom have never trusted in Jesus. Father, I wanna thank you for, um, brothers and sisters in this room. I thank you for those of us trusted in you. We will never have to know darkness again. I just am so thankful for that. Jesus, you're a high priest and, and your blood has covered us once and for all. And Lord, we, we never have to experience your wrath because it was all put on Christ. What amazing news. God and Lord, I think about this coming week and we have, again, hundreds of kids coming through this building and we get to love them with, with the gospel.
Speaker 1 00:37:00 We get to love them with food and stories and fun and medieval times and a whole bunch of insanity. But God, my prayer is that for the hearts of every one of these students, if they don't know you, that you would reveal Christ to them and their sin and that they would trust you. Lord, I I'm a personal example of somebody who can get the gospel at four years old and it can stick. And Lord, I I know that you have the ability to save kids early and that is our desire, that they might not have to know the life of sin, that so many of us in this room have known before we trusted in you. Would you spare them from that insanity and that chaos and that pain? And God, I pray that they would meet Christ young Lord. For the, for the kids who are coming who do know you, God, would you deepen their faith?
Speaker 1 00:37:42 May this be an unforgettable experience, uh, that they tie to you. May you teach them about you. And God, I pray that as they look back and maybe they don't even attend this church, but God, they would see that this place is a place that loves them and is safe. God, I pray for relationships that are gonna be built, that kids would have, uh, group guides and leaders, Lord, that they would look to and that they would see Christ and they would be inspired by generations before them. God, I pray for deep relationships that would be built amongst friends Lord, that are rooted and grounded in Jesus. And Lord, may we never, ever look at little ones as less than Lord. They get the same Holy Spirit that we do as adults and we trust in Christ. And so I pray that your Holy Spirit would save. And Lord, I pray in this room that if there's anybody who is yet to trust in Christ, Lord you, you would show them the next step that you want them to take. So God thank you for that. Salvation is free for all, for any who trust in Christ. We love you. We praise you for that. We do all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
