Be Still, Pray, Listen, Worship Series

We have been learning much about God and people through the Book of Exodus as God led His Chosen People in the desert on the way to the Promised Land. In the Book of Exodus, God reveals His power, His control and authority with grace and love, and His plans and desires for a Holy people! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! God is God! And God tells Christians today that He has provided everything needed for life and godliness! Let us put these 2 important truths in our memory banks: God is the Creator God and we are the created and God has provided for us everything we need for life and godliness!

Let us learn more about our God as He continues to lovingly relate to the Israelites of old; open your Bibles to Exodus 24 and read along with me……

Let us summarize the events…

v1-2: God called on worship leaders, with Moses as the primary priest.

v3: After hearing God’s Word through Moses, the people were united in obeying God!

I think v4 is related to v3 don’t you? How can we say that v4 can be related to v3??

I think, v4a: God knew the people will forget what they heard, so God made sure His instructions were written down! Ever wonder why we have God’s written word? Likely by Tuesday, you would have forgotten what we talked about today. Read God’s Word!

We can also note in the second part of v4…

v4b: an altar was built with 12 pillars representing Israel = a special “personal” place to worship and remember God!

v5: God called on young men to lead worship; let us always remember that as adults, it is our responsibility to teach young people to worship God and not just be entertained at church!

v6-8: blood represents life; blood shed notes a sacrifice and a “covenant” with God’s people

covenant – berith = a treaty, a commitment; what we are studying in Exodus is about the covenant to the Hebrews in preparation for the New Covenant through Jesus Christ for Christians!

Now, let us note in v7 that the people easily responded again to obey God but this time with the written word! We will read soon that the Hebrews will totally forget about God!

Let us note that we Christians are reminded in James 3:9… With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. We Christians today can also easily do lipservice, when God looks at our hearts!

What can we note about God’s appearance from this passage?

v10: God was like floating on a clear blue diamond!

v15: cloud envelopes God!

v17: like a consuming fire!

And God speaks!!

Picture God with those descriptions for a moment…. What can we say about God based on those descriptions??

And what do you think v11 is saying??

God could have judged those leaders; weren’t they told not to go up and see God?

God is beautiful, almighty in power, but is merciful and desires a relationship with people!

Let us look back at this passage in light of our new covenant with Jesus Christ.

God called on worship leaders with Moses as the primary priest.

Believers of Jesus Christ are to be “salt and light” to the world!

God calls on all Christians to be worship leaders with Jesus Christ as the High Priest!

In our lives, are we leading people to worship Christ or actually pulling them away?

After hearing God’s Word through Moses, the people were united in obeying God! Today we have all of God’s Word for our hearing. A mark of True Believers of Jesus Christ is a desire to daily hear God’s Word and be united in obeying the Bible! How are we doing on this?

An altar was built with 12 pillars representing Israel. We today are to commit personally and corporately in seeing our church as a special and personal place to worship and remember God! Let me or one of our elders know if we can do a better job of doing this.

We read, blood shed notes a sacrifice and a “covenant” with God’s people. Turn with me to Hebrews 10 for a moment… and read along with me v19-25…..

Blood sacrifices were needed for the Hebrews of old to be close to a Holy God. The blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross was done once and for all now provides access to a Holy God forever! If we believe in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for all our sins, we have confidence in being with a Holy God; this is the New covenant, the only treaty to provide an eternal relationship with God; and with that relationship with God, we can love and encourage one another!