Midweek University

just buried their uh their patriarch. And I I know that they need our prayers probably now more than they did. Uh I know that uh we all have have different uh different needs in the house. So, if you would, would you would you just go to the Lord in prayer with me? Jesus, we love you. God, we thank you so much for your kindness, for your goodness, and your mercy. You have been so kind to us. You've been so good to us, Lord. We are so thankful to be in your house among your people.

God, following after your your will and after your plan, God. I pray, Lord, tonight, Lord, that you would touch every need that is that is associated with this body. God, I pray, Lord, for Marvin Barry and Thelma Prather God and Liz Bradley and for Candy and Deborah and Abby. God, I pray Lord for the Harris family. God, I pray, Lord, that you would let your hand of of comfort be upon them, God. Hand of direction be upon them, God. Help them. Be with them in the low times and in the high times.

Be with them, God. Let let your hand of comfort be upon them, God. I pray, Lord, that you would let your mercy and grace surround them. God, I pray, Lord, tonight, God, that as we dig into your word, I pray, Lord, that you would help us, God, with holy hands and holy minds to rightly divide the word of truth. God, help us, Lord, to understand the intent, the context, and and and and and apply it into our lives, God. I pray, Lord, and I I thank you, Lord, for your word.

I thank you, Lord, for your word. I thank you, Lord, for your word, your direction, and your guidance. God, for laying out a plan and a path for us, God, Lord, for thinking of us, for giving direction to us, God, I thank you. And God, I praise you, God. God, we'll be careful, God, to give you all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor. And the church said, "Amen." Uh, you you uh I I need I do need a little help tonight. Do y'all like Play-Doh? Will you help me hand out some Play-Doh?

Well, if you if you don't like Play-Doh, that's okay. You can just pass on by. Uh, I I I've got uh if you're a kinesthetic learner, that's a fancy that's a fancy word for if you learn by doing, this is this lessons for you tonight. We're going to build a pyramid. I'm just kidding. This is not this is uh yeah, we're going to play with it. It's okay. You can touch it. You can get it out. It's your Play-Doh and you can be seated. Um, two things you'll need tonight.

You'll need the Play-Doh and you'll need your Bible. Uh and your journal if you have a journal. Uh so three things you'll need tonight. Uh we are going to be talking in the month of July. We are we are talking about the golding the golden candlestick, the lamp or the however you want to call talk about it. and and in this year this does anyone know what what our theme is this year?

The tabernacle ecclesia the church or ecclesia I I'm yeah I'm sorry miss Greek which one's the Greek speaker or Hebrew speaker over here. Yeah.

uh the the church, the called out ones, we start looking at uh I don't know as as I'm going through and and studying each piece and and and listening to the teachings on each piece, the the the principle that I keep I keep understanding is in Hebrews uh Hebrews talks about this as as it was it it was the shadow of the things above the temple, the tabernacle. It is the shadow of the things above.

It's the uh I'm looking for the right words here, but it's God carried Moses upon the mount and he showed him some things. He showed him what the heavenly was like. And then the challenge that Moses had was to then somehow make that wrap around our minds. Somehow make that into into something that we can understand, something that we can we can use. Uh and and it that's hard. I I don't I don't mind telling you. Uh if if you don't think it's hard, read revelations. It's hard.

It's hard to to to see the spiritual and and and make it into a concrete. It's hard to see the things of heaven and make them things of the earth. Uh but let's let's just let's dig into the lampstand or the golden lampstand or the golden light stick. This tonight, I've got a lot of scripture tonight, okay?

because I want us to um I want us to to look at all the details and then we can as our foundation for this month and then as we get the details then I want us to we'll start looking into the allegorories and the the the things that the types and the shadows that God built out for this uh Exodus chapter 25 verse 31 starting with verse 31. And I I I need y'all's help reading these because if y'all just listen to my voice reading these tonight, it's going to get rough. All right.

There's there's a lot of weird little detail in here. And you can read whatever version you want. I have the I have the ESV. You may have the King King James or you may have the I don't know the Matthew Henry something or another. We'll get there. Okay. We may have to rephrase it. English. Uh, someone have we'll go third. Exodus 25 31-4. So, someone have 31. All right. Sister man. All right. Verse 32. Verse 3. 334. Can you repeat that one more time? I'm just kidding. Verse 36. Exodus 25:36.

All right. Verse 37. 38. 39 and 40 pattern that was shown you on the mountain. You got your you got your Play-Doh. Now, this is I want you to I don't know if you've seen a picture of this or not, but based on what you've read, I want you to try your best to make one. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Ask Vandy. He knows. He read the verse. Uh it's Oh, boy. Yeah, it's it's a connector. Is anybody good at like pottery class? Yeah. All right, there we go.

We're going to have a masterpiece by the end of this. So verse 31 says, "You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of a of hammered work. Its base, its stems, its cups, its calalaxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it." So I've already messed up. I broke mine in two because it was going to be easier. They had to make out of one talent of gold, which apparently translates to about $2 million right now. Yeah, that's a lot of gold. Who's the closest?

No, no, no picture. No picture. This is based on the reading. Imagine how hard it was for Moses to be like, "No, guys, this is what I saw." And it's got to be with one piece. For those watching online, I hope you brought your own Play-Doh. All right. While you're doing that, do you got Exodus chapter 30 verse 22 through31? You can still you can still be working on this, but I do need some help. constructing this through the word. Exodus 30:22 through31. Who's got 20? Uh, I I'll do 22.

The Lord said to Moses, verse 23. Yes, sir. Down to 31. 26. With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the test. Verse 27. 29 30 31 So they anointed they anointed the room the tent of meeting that this was in. This is where the table of showbread was. This is where the altar of incense is. This is where the lampstand is. This this it was God's instructions to Moses. Anoint this room. Consecrate this. It's the holy place. Um verse 37. Where we at on our That's That's the labor.

You did the labor. Yeah. Well, I had a service. Yeah. Yeah. Where we at? Who got who got anywhere? Who's the Who's the crafty person base? Well, I don't know. Now, I did have the benefit of seeing pictures before I did this. So, Dan, you should have like made it. You're the craftsman. You're the craftsman. A slingshot. Uh, does anyone have Exodus 37 and verse 17? Verses 17- 23.

Now, what I'm what I am trying to do here, all right, is I am trying to walk you guys through before I teach a lesson, I like to read everything possible about that lesson. Does that make sense? And so before we dig into the the possible types and shadows of the of the lampstand, I feel like it's it's only it's only right if we understand the construction of it, the base of it. It's a little bit boring. I mean, just straight up reading the Old Testament. I mean, heaven forbid it.

Exodus 37 verses 17- 23. Verse verse 18. Verse 19. All right. Verse 20. 21. Verse 22. Verse 23. Come on. Come on. You got it. People say the King James version. Verse 24. He made it and all its utensils out of a talent of pure gold. This is just a restatement of what it was made. But there was a point that he he hammered home here. It's a hammered work of pure gold. It wasn't melted and cast, which I thought was kind of weird. I thought like that's the way to do it, right?

That's why gold's so malleable. It you can melt it down. You can cast it and form it in any way. But he said of a hammer. Now, heated gold honestly is like play-doh. I've never had that much gold, but you know, it's a soft metal. It's very soft, especially you warm it up just a little bit. Uh if you have a you have a wedding band out of out of it can't be completely out of because that's too soft. Wow. All right. Come on. Show us. This looks like Spongebob over here.

We found our kinesthetic learner. It's it's so so when you when you find it, it's hot. It's or when it's warm, it's like play-doh. It's hard to form it. It's hard to shape it. It's hard for it to keep its shape. It's hard to Then they put details because those those flowers were very detailed works. It was had to hold it. It was a lamp and so it had to have a bowl for oil on it. So it had to be able to hold the oil and then it had to just it couldn't droop.

It couldn't there was some craftsmanship that went into this. A whole talent of gold uh that is let's see 75 pounds. That's a whole lot of gold. Now, they were in the desert. They were wandering around in the oh lord the the Arabian Peninsula. They were wandering around the middle of nowhere. And they had this wasn't all the gold, but this was just one part of the gold that they had. 75 pounds of gold and one thing. And it had to be one solid piece. couldn't be meshed together.

Couldn't you You saw how hard it was. Like I couldn't do that and I I had a bit of an advantage over you guys as far as like having a platform to to do something, but there was some craftsmanship into this. Uh it was the golden lampstand. Exodus 39:32 through 37. If y'all could read that with me real quick. 32 says, "Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished. The people did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses. So they did." Verse 33. the oil.

It's so everybody kind of like following me where we're at right now. Uh we're we're in a This is the tent of meeting is the place where the priest they could go there daily. It's where the showbread was. Uh it's They would go there daily and then it was right outside. So if this is the tent of meeting, this this veil right here would be the holy of holies. So this is the holy place. This is the holy of holy places. Fairly simple. It's like one. I tried to tell a he didn't say he didn't get it.

Uh, Exodus. No, no, no. I'm sorry. Leviticus. Leviticus 24. That's a lot of scripture tonight. Verses 1-4. I'll take verse one. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, Verse three. Verse four. regularly. This was a nightly thing. Every night I am lighting this in the holy place. I'm lighting this in in in in the place that's been anointed. I'm lighting this. Uh the oil from the olives. Um Lauren's going to do this at a later lesson. She's going to help me make olive oil.

We're going to see if it'll burn. I don't know how to do it. She's pretty crafty. He said she's gonna help me figure that that piece out. I know. I know. We could buy some, but that's not the point because what does it say? It says pure oil beaten from olives to the beaten olives. Yeah. Started teaching, preaching, you know. We just buy it at the store. It's not true. You get it? I used to teach I used to teach my kids in children's church because they were like five, six, seven, eight.

I'd be like, "All right, when you're doing your Bible verses, you know, like, and God said, I'd be like, and I'd have the whole group because, you know, just got them wound up." So, they got that preacher voice going on. Uh, this this then draws the picture for us. this lamp, it's illuminating um seven candles.

We don't we don't do it, but uh if I may, the the the Methodist church here before, they have they believed in candles, really believed in it, and they they still had like the lighter things here when we moved here. Uh the the snuffers, they still had the snuffers here. Uh it's a part, right? It's a part of it's a tradition, but it's a point of knowing this is this is a light. This is this is a lighting of of showing the way. If I may, then we get to Acts chapter 7 verse 44.

Stephen says, "Our fathers had the tent of the wilderness and 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." There was something that Moses saw that was that that he had to he had to lay it very simply for us. What he saw in the heaven had to be laid very I had to be very simple for the children of Israel because well they were like us.

God gave them food and then they complained about it and they're like ah we want quail or we want meat. And so he was like, "You're going to eat it till it runs out your nose." So maybe maybe when you are maybe a little mean sometimes, maybe that's God's nature coming through. I don't know. You know, hey, I'm not calling God mean. Don't don't don't don't get me in trouble for blasphemy here.

It's but for real when when when we are looking at how God did this, he he laid out this holy place to be separate. It wasn't the most holy, but it was a holy place. It was a place of incense. It was a place that was anointed. It was a place that had a continual burning. And if I may, we can start to then see it maybe from a Christian point of view. We start seeing a fulfillment of this when we start looking at Jesus Christ. We start seeing he said something. He what did he say?

He said, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man can come unto the father except by me." when he when he made that statement, it it can very easily you can start to see maybe what Moses saw in heaven, what God revealed unto him, you can start to see that maybe the lampstand as as we look at the man Christ Jesus, we start looking at him and we start seeing, wait a minute, he's the light. He said, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life.

No man can come to the father except by me. No man can know the fullness of God except by me. No man can can enter into the holies of holies except by me. No man can know truth except by me." And so we start looking at Jesus as as this lampstand. And and we if I may we go if we go to Zechariah chapter 4 and I've got quite a few verses here because Zechariah had such a powerful such a powerful revelation. Zechariah chapter 4 verse one.

And the angel who talked to who talked with me came again and woke me like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. So he's like all dazed and confused and the angel's like, "Hey man, here you go." He's like, "Wait a minute." Whoa, what? Some Can somebody get verse two? Zechariah chapter 4, verse two. Verse three, verse five. Verse six. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm verse five. I apologize. Verse six. He saw the lampstand.

Just as Moses had saw it, he saw he he he is the angel is showing this and revealing this to him just as Moses has saw it. But he is he is looking and he says not by might not by power but by my spirit sayeth the Lord. It's so interesting. We look and we start we start reading them. And we start understanding the revelation of Jesus. The Old Testament, these prophets, what what does it say? That they saw through a glass darkly. They couldn't they couldn't see it all. They were seeing pieces.

They were seeing parts. But the parts all start to be revealed in Jesus.

uh if if we get to uh if we go to first Timothy very simply 1 Timothy I think 3 and 16 great indeed we con we confess the mystery of godliness God was manifest in uh was manifest in the flesh vindicated by the spirit seen by angels proclaimed among the nations believed on on in the world and taken up in glory he was uh he was wrapped in flesh and so We start looking at this man Christ Jesus and we start, if I may, we can wrap we can we can we can start to see the symbolism of the temple.

We see we see Christ as a light. He said, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light." But we see that he's clothed in something. He's clothed in flesh. We see his clothe he we see his flesh dwelling among us. And we realize the fulfillment of the scripture. If any man comes to the father, it must be by me. Or no man comes to the father except by me.

I if if we're going to be able to enter into the holy of holies, if we're going to be able to pass through even in and symbolically pass through the veil, if we're going to partake of the spirit, we've got to first believe on Jesus Christ. Very simply, if I may, we start we start then we start understanding um when John writes, right? Let let those that everyone that professes that Jesus is Christ, let them, you know, let them be good. They're good. They're not of the devil.

But anyone that doesn't understand that they're of the devil. the the understanding from a if I may from a Jewish standpoint of translating of understanding this form that we have seen for thousands of years this temple this holy place this is pointing us to something greater this is pointing us to the revelation of Christ uh Genesis Genesis very simply puts it uh Genesis 1 and uh three God said let there be light and there was light he didn't create the son. Then that was the light.

That was him revealing himself to his creation. Just as just as he revealed Christ unto us, he revealed light unto us. When we start to we start to see this is the lamp. When I go unto Christ, he illuminates my pathway. When I when I when I if I may, when I am baptized in Jesus' name, he starts allowing the spirit to move on me.

When I am walking in the holy place, after I've been sanctified, after I've been purified, after I've received forgiveness, and I start understanding, and I put the name of Jesus upon me, I the light then shows me the the understanding of who Jesus is shows me a more perfect way. It shows me who he is. John uh John in Revelations he he goes into this and he teaches and he he goes uh very simply very simply the first verse of Revelation. Revelation 1 and1 the revelation of Jesus Christ.

This is the revealing of Jesus Christ. the understanding of that that that he is that God is not bound by time, space, matter. He is not bound by our constructs. We are given constructs to better understand him. We were given things so that uh that our abstract that our concrete minds can can kind of grasp the greatness of a holy God. the lamp. There are different pieces of it, different things of it that that pertain to Christ and and will point us to Christ.

But one one very important piece was the oil. But I'm not going to teach on the oil tonight. It was the fuel. The oil had to be a pure oil. You can't get a pure flame without a pure oil. You can't you can't have pure gold a good lampstand without pure gold. Now, how how the how the mechanics of it worked, I have no idea. I I don't know how the trimmings of the of the uh wicks. Wicks. Good. We don't use candles anymore.

So, you know, I don't know how the trimmings of the wicks work because there's a that's a mechanical process. That's a whole thing. But I will say this, I I heard one guy put it like this. He said, you know, when you're looking at a candle burning or a lamp burning, when it's burning, when it's on fire, you don't see the wick. You just see the flame.

So inversely, when we're on fire for God, when we're plugged into the source, and when we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, you don't have to worry about anybody seeing us. They just see God in everything that we do, everywhere that we go. So, if I may tonight, have you have you've tried to make your I don't know how you've made your uh your lampstand, but think on it, God. These are these are diff these represent different things.

uh Revelations I I believe it it it talks about the seven spirits. It talks about the seven the uh the seven churches and then the seven spirits. But I do I do want us to understand Paul said it like this. There's different administrations of the spirit. There's one spirit. If I may, if if I can just take this this type and shadow here just very briefly tonight. There there may be seven candlesticks. There's or seven seven flames, but there's just one candlestick.

Maybe that's why he was so adamant about it being one whole piece. Maybe it was maybe maybe I'm not saying it was but maybe because understanding that God can be here there and everywhere but he's just one that matters because there's something about our nature uh humankind every other um well if you just leave man alone on an island they'll make a god out of anything right I mean that's it's just that's that tribal that's that natural phenomenon on a man is to just make a god out of anything.

We'll make a sun god or a rain god or a fire god if there's a volcano and so on and so forth. But understanding that God is in all through all and above you all and understanding that his nature is not bound by our concrete minds that matters. I think that we can I think that we can take the Holy of Holies and I think we can take the candlestick and very intently. I I feel it. It is the type and the shadow of the administration of the spirit and the the administration of who God is.

He is showing us a way. He is showing us a direction. He is he is in the place where we find our substance. He's in the place where we we we we set everything else aside and then the light shines. When was the last time that you were able to sit down and do nothing but maybe pray with nothing else going on? There was a reason, right, for the prayer closet. When was the last time that you were able to say, "God, I'm just here in the holy place.

God, I'm just here waiting on you to illuminate the things around me. When we do that, when we separate ourselves in the tent of meeting, that's where God is. I know Getting to the Holy of Holies is the goal. And that's important. That veil is torn. But just think with me, how important was it for them to every day because it was every day that they had to go in. It was every day that they had to keep the lamp. Every night the lamp going.

Every day they had to make sure the bread was good or every week to make sure the bread was good. It was one time a year that they went to the Holy of Holies, but it was every day where they sat down and the priest found a moment to be alone with the light. The priest found a moment to separate himself. If pastors talked a lot about all the this if you've ever killed an animal, they don't die quietly, right? You ever rung a chicken's head? That's a weird thing.

You ever uh Yeah, it's a real weird thing. Uh you ever have you ever Well, I don't know. I've never sacrificed an animal, but like when you shoot a deer, like you know, it it just it it doesn't die quietly. If you go to a anywhere something like that, there's noise all around, but when you step into the meeting place, that's where God is. I wonder as I know they're they're working on coming in. I wonder if we can for just a few minutes. I'm I want to close this lesson out.

And if we can, if you're comfortable where you're at, you can just bow there. You can find a place to pray for just a moment and let's make a meeting place with God. Is that okay? Is that appropriate? God, I just want to be with you. Is you Is you'll turn on some music for us. He'll give us just a minute to be to find a quiet place with God. Everyone but Pierce. I'm just kidding. Mine's eaten.