The High Priest

it's midweek university. This this month I am talking about the qualified church. Uh and and part of that is dealing with the priesthood. Uh in in dealing with the Old Testament priesthood, uh you you kind of come across Well, I hope you brought your Bibles tonight. That's that's what I'm trying to say. We got a lot of scripture tonight because I do believe that the foundations of the priesthood, uh I can't explain it better than the word explains it.

Uh so if you have if you have your Bible uh we do have a couple things coming up. Uh we have this this Friday night the ladies uh the ladies have the generational jockabeds book study. It's Friday night here at the church at 6 pm. Uh and then uh also at the end of the month there's the fall festival. Now, I do want to make mention of this fall festival is not um how do I how do I put this?

Uh the fall festival is it's a c it's it's not a celebration of Halloween per se, right? But I'll I'll say this. Christians have a really good history of taking something and changing it and using it for our for for the glory of God. All right? Really, that's where Christmas came from. All right? It was a day that the Roman Empire celebrated something. Well, guess what? When everybody converted, they're like, "Okay, we need to stop celebrating that." Well, what do we do?

We celebrate Christ instead. So, so if I may, I think this is probably our our cultures thing to turn to turn and change just a little bit. Um, fall festival is it's and the way we're doing it is we're trying our best to give our community a safe place to come and to celebrate. And if I may, we have a community now. It's been a few years since we've had a community. Um, so we're trying our best to put our best foot forward for this community.

Uh, we're, you know, a step at a time in an event is a really easy thing to invite people to. Uh, so if you have someone that that's got kids, someone that maybe doesn't have kids but like jumping on jump houses. I don't know. I don't know if we have one for adults. Is that is that does anyone know? Do we have a jump house for adults? I don't want to come now. All right, never mind. Forget I was talking about that. No, I'm just kidding. It's October the 31st.

Uh and and if you if you would like to do a trunk Wow, Sister Mandy, just so conveniently right here. If you if you have a car and you're able to do a trunk, Sister Mandy needs your help. Six more. Wow. So, if you have two cars, I'm talking to you, Ron. If you've got a car Yeah. Yeah, he raised his hand, Sister Mandy. I'm fairly certain he raised his hand. Now, he didn't, but you know, uh Marcus was Marcus was the guy I got to pick on last week.

Uh last uh so last week I did I talked a little bit about the priesthood. Um, it was maybe a little bit more of a history lesson. Maybe a little little dry. Uh, yeah, you don't have to nod that hard. Okay. It was it was more of a history lesson.

And and what I what I was attempting to do was was explain the why a priesthood evolves in every in in every civilization in every uh well every major civilization uh a priesthood comes about uh for one reason or another and and what I what I have found to be the common denominator is the priesthood is solving a problem. It is trying to communicate values learned values from one generation to the next. Uh it's really hard. It's a really hard thing to do.

Now, that's that's the secular side of a priesthood, but it's it solves a very important purpose um of that of communicating those values, putting them into principle form. One thing that we did not really I I didn't take the time to get into was examining each one of those and what they worshiped. Uh if if you if you remember some of them like the Egyptians or the the the Persians were very long lasting empires that had priesthoods.

These these priesthoods uh and and honestly the South American the Incas and the Aztecs they had a they had a certain type they they I don't know if they started out this way but they devolved into like a lot of like really weird stuff. they devolved into like human sacrifice. Um, a lot of it was around sexual gratification. A lot of it was around some of it some devolved into child sacrifice.

Uh, we find in we find that mentioning in the Bible of Molech of people worshiping sacrificing their children. um some really some really strange things that if man, if I may, if man sets something up, right? If if it what's of the flesh will lead to corruption, it will lead to mess up. It will it just will. Now, it doesn't mean everything's doom and gloom, but but it kind of the proof's in the pudding.

Uh the proof of of who of of where something comes from is in the pudding. Now you can't get man out of it. If you completely eradicate man, then you have a good perfect world. But you know, God was very kind and decided he wasn't going to do that except maybe one time more. And but he gave us a path of redemption. Now, with this priesthood, then you have to ask, what separates the the priesthood in the Old Testament from the priesthood of all these other religions?

Any any ideas? I'm down here on the floor tonight. Still got lights in my eyes, though. So, it's Any any ideas what separates? I need I need just somebody. I know we're in the big room, but like any ideas? [name redacted], you had your hands up. No, you didn't. Oh. Uh it's intimidating to like talk out loud in here, isn't it? It's like it's easier in a smaller classroom.

But any ideas on what what or any thoughts on what separates differentiates the the Old Testament, the biblical priesthood from all the other uh priesthoods that you find throughout the world? What you got, buddy? Okay. Proof's in the pudding. So, like you said, if if you do this, then this will happen. Okay, that's fair. Any other thoughts? Yes, ma'am. Okay. There's there's historical documentation. What about you? is very that's fair. That's a fair point.

She said she said that it it feels she feels like the priesthood in the Bible is is somehow at the center of all the other priesthoods. Now, there was one man's one man's thought was uh I can't prove this out.

It's just a thought that that all the religions of the world uh disseminated or came from Genesis chapter 11 with the tower of babel when it was destroyed and then all the languages came and then everyone took their own interpretation and maybe perverted it, twisted it, changed it um into into its own religion, their own religions and you start finding those common denominators like like you said uh when you start doing Um, I want to say it's y'all y'all bear with me with this anthrop anthropological studies.

You start doing studies of of civilizations and peoples. Um, now if if we start looking at that, I I think I think all those answers are are correct. I think there's a couple different different ways to look at this. um you you find just logically that you have to have a political leader or if I may this is this is what came out over time was you had to have a political leader and you had to have a priestly leader. Um and that that was depicted in Moses's in Moses and Aaron.

Moses was the he was the quote unquote and and I don't mean politics in our present day politics but secular leader. He was he heard directly from God but he wasn't the priest. Um, Aaron was his mouthpiece. That was it was they had a weird dynamic there. But as time went on, then Joshua came after after Moses, and then there was still the priesthood. And there was there was a delineation between the the day-to-day leader and the priestly leader.

Um, and there needs to be a fundamental understanding of that. If, for example, you get down to David, uh, he's king. He violates a law. He He sins. Who's supposed to correct the king? Who sins? Who Who's going to do that? The priest or the prophet? Who Who's going to be that check and balance? Uh and Nathan did just that. He came to David said, "David, you're the man. You've sinned. You've messed up." And luckily for Nathan, uh, he repented.

Now, when Isaiah did that or when Jeremiah did that, they were like, "You're a terrible or Elisha or Elijah did that, they tried to kill him." So, it it's still there has to be that check and balance there. Um, in Exodus, you got, if you have your Bibles, go with me to Exodus chapter 7.

and and we're going to step through the story and kind of follow if if I may, we're going to try and follow the story of Aaron tonight and understand how Aaron interacted uh and and kind of how that evolved, but then how God proved himself through him. So, Exodus 7 verse number one, and the Lord said to Moses, see, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. That's that's a lofty pedestal for God to put Moses on. That's that's a lot.

Like I feel like we should pay a lot of attention when God is like telling someone, I'm making you like a god. Like now it was like a god to Pharaoh. But still in verse two, he says, "You shall pe speak all that I command you and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden the Pharaoh's heart, though, and I multiply though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh will not listen to you.

Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my host, my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch my hand out against Egypt and bring the bring the people out of Israel Israel from among them. I I don't I want to I want to give us some context here. Egypt was old. It was centuries old at this time.

Um there's there was a I saw something on the internet just because the internet's really good at bringing some things out, but it it said that Cleopatra lived closer to our to the time of the iPhone, I think is what it said, than than than she did to the time of the building of the pyramids in Egypt. That's how old Egypt is. Like Egypt's old like super old. So this guy God when God is saying this about Egypt, Egypt was the foremost supreme power in the land.

It was like Great Britain before us. It was like uh the the the Hatsburg dynasty before us. It was like us now. It was like it was just the supreme power in the world. and Aaron and Moses are going to it and they're going to its leader and they're like, "Hey, you got to listen to us." That's that's a big order. That's a tall order. Uh verse six, Moses and Aaron did so and they did just as the Lord commanded them.

Now Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "When Pharaoh says to you, prove yourselves by working a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh that it may become a serpent." Verse 10. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

I always thought it was Moses's staff. And I think at some point in time it was Moses. Moses did cast his down in in the wilderness. But in this instance it was Aaron's staff. Verse 11. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers and they and they the magicians of Israel also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

So, interestingly enough, Moses at a different point here, it says Moses was trained in all the wisdoms of the Egyptians. So, very easily they would have they could have said, "Well, Moses, we trained you, so we're we're going to, you know, we don't believe this." But it was Aaron's rod. That was an interesting part. Uh Aaron wasn't anointed anything here. He was just Moses's brother. He wasn't anointed. He wasn't appointed.

He was just like, "I guess I guess this was what we're doing." I mean, you got to trust your brother to do that. Who's got an older brother? Would you trust your older brother if he was like, "Throw this stick down. It's going to become a snake." No. Yeah. I mean, older brothers would just make a They would just like have a snake there and let it bite you. I'm an older brother. I know what they would do. Okay. But somehow or another, this worked out.

Uh, this was God proving to Pharaoh, hey, I'm greater. I'm mightier. He said, I don't even have to use Moses. I can use Aaron. I I'm greater. I'm mightier. I am proving this out to be true. Then we we we go through and and they they leave the land. They leave the uh they leave the uh the Egyptians. This supreme superpower, they're able to leave it. God makes a way for them. They cross the Red Sea.

Uh and then we get to where the where Moses is having to set up some sort of governance governance. Uh and so he he does in Exodus chapter 24. Uh then Moses then he said to Moses, God said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Naab, and A and Abahu and the 70 elders of Israel and worship from afar." So in Exodus 24 verse two it said Moses alone shall come near to the Lord but the others shall not come near and the people shall not come up with him.

And Moses came and told the told the people all the words of the Lord all the rules and all the people answered one voice and said all the words that the Lord has spoken we will do. And then Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel. Everybody with me? Verse five. I do have a little bit of scripture tonight in case I didn't warn you.

And he sent young men of the people of Israel who burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins. And half the blood he threw against the altar. And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.

And they said, "All that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we and we'll be obedient." And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance to all these words." Then Moses and Aaron, Naab and Abahu and 70 elders of Israel went up. Verse 10 is very interesting in its in its phrasing here.

They saw the God of Israel and they were and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone like the very heaven for clearness. They and he did not lay his hand on the chief men of Israel. They beheld God and ate and drank. So they sat down and had supper with God. That's a really interesting thing to think about. All these guys, this was this was Moses, Aaron, Naab, and Abaiu. And then the 70 elders.

These men had an encounter with God that maybe no one else had. Even the mountain of transfiguration wasn't as maybe as settled as this. This was a time for them to sit down and commune with God. And then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me," and this is verse 12. I'm going to go through 13 here.

"Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give to you t tablets of stone with the law and the commandments which I have written for their instruction." So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua or his minister Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. Uh this is where God really then starts to separate out the 70 elders that that Moses had appointed. Uh the the priesthood that of Aaron and and the proving out of Aaron.

There was there was a point that that there were some came and said why Aaron? Why did he get chosen out for this? Uh why why should we listen to Aaron? He's just like us. And God God said, "Okay, let's just put all these let's put their rods, their staff into into a container, and the one that buds is the one I have chosen." And guess whose rod budded? Aaron's. God didn't do this because of Aaron. Aaron wasn't anything special. He wasn't He God did this because God did it.

That's about all I know. He was of the son of Levites. And he said, "All right, Aaron. This is this is who you're going to be. This is what you're going to do. Aaron, if I may, Aaron listened before he was commissioned. Aaron did before he was ever appointed. He just step by step. Hey, Moses said to him, "Hey, we're going to we're getting we need to go talk to Pharaoh." And Aaron's like, "All right, let's go. Hey, we need to go throw down your rod.

It's going to turn into a snake." All right. All right. Now, pick up your rod. Okay. What? I'd throw it down. I don't know. I'd pick it back up. But then God appoints him or anoints him. He was, if I may, he was well, let me let me let me the the wording is better this way. He was appointed first by Moses and God to just do and then he was anointed later.

There there's got to be somewhere in there in our lives that we start seeing that sometimes God just wants us to do things. He hey just be what? I'll be ruler over a few things and then God says what if you're if you're diligent over a few things I'll make you a I'll make you diligent over many. There there's a principle there that God is proving out of look, you you don't have to be you don't have to be called out. You don't have to be you can be, but you don't have to be.

God didn't appear to Aaron. He didn't he didn't come to him in the in the burning bush. Aaron had to trust his brother's relationship for a moment. Aaron had to trust that, hey, I'm just going to do this. Uh and then God anointed him. Exodus 28. Uh this is if if you guys can I I'll we'll read through Exodus 28, but there's a picture uh if you guys can put that up on the screen uh of the priest. It's a really oddlooking picture.

Now, I want you to know this chat GPT made this. So, it's pointing to his beard where it says linen tunic and that's his beard. I didn't know what to do with it. I was like, "Well, okay, that's I guess that's what we're doing." Uh the there's not a good picture of this on the internet. They all look like 1974.

Like honestly, all right, I'm going to make a real good joke here, but if you guys, it's not a real good joke, but if you guys go upstairs into the Sunday school rooms and you see the walls painted there, like they were probably painted in like 1980, that's what all the pictures of the priesthood look like on the internet. Like every one of them. And I just couldn't find a good picture. It's just it is what it is. All right, so all the pictures look like a 1980s classroom.

That's That's the end of the story there. So, he he has them put on a turban uh and a and a gold a gold cap, a tunic, a linen tunic, and then a a sash and a breastplate uh with a all kinds of linen girdle, linen britches. Um they're under They're underneath the It's It's on purpose. Okay. It's It's underneath the robe. Yeah, it said he said it on purpose. We'll see. Thank you, Justin. We'll see.

He said so when they go up a step uh so that they won't well you won't see their nakedness and so that they're decent. One of the things I I I noticed about this. All of this was not for the priest. We'll read through we'll read through 24. And I want you to have the visual in front of you. This is a rough visual because it's really hard to like picture this when you're reading it, but none of this points to the priest. None of it is about the priest.

In fact, it was cover as much of the priest as possible. It it let everything else be seen but the priest. Paul put it this way. I magnify not myself. I magnify my office. I it it God is is saying this priesthood is an office. It's not a man. It's an office. It's it's something to to respect, but it's something that that the man and the office are separate, but also they're intertwined because if the man's to to be in the office, he has to live up to a certain standard.

uh in that in that standard if you if you would. Exodus 28 um we're we're going to read through this here. Uh starting with verse four. These are the garments they shall make. A breast piece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work of of of checker work, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priest. They shall receive go gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.

They shall make the ephod of gold of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine lin linen skillfully worked. It shall be two shoulder pieces attached to its edges so that it may be joined together and skillfully woven band on it to make it like and be one of the pieces of it of gold, blue and purple, and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen.

You shall take two onyx stones, engrave on them the names of the son of Israel, six of the names on one stone and the names of the remaining six on the other stone in order of their birth. uh as a jeweler engraved signant. So you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sun and you shall enclose them with a setting of fine of fine of gold filigree. So here it's talking about here on the breastplate of putting the names these this is who I'm representing.

These this is this is who the I say this is who the priest is representing. It's got to be fine. It's got to be intentional. It's got to be um you want it skilled work. It says skilled work a lot of times here like more times than I care to repeat. Uh verse 13. You shall make settings of gold filigree and two chains of pure gold twisted like cords. And you shall attach the corded chains to the settings. You shall make a breastplate of judgment in skilled work.

In the style of the ephod you shall make it of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen. You shall make it. It shall be square and doubled, a spand at its length and a spand at its breadth. You shall set four four rows of stones, a row, a row of sardis, topaz, car carbon. Does anybody know what a carbonicle is? Anyone? Sounds like something you get on your toe in the in the second row. An emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.

The third row, a jinth, an agate, and a a meritus. The fourth row, a barrel, a burl, an onyx, and a jasper. And they shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be 12 stones with the names of the according to the names of the son of Israel. And they shall be like signets, each engraved with its name for the 12 tribes. You shall make a breastplate, this is verse 22, you shall make a breastplate, twisted chains like cords of pure gold.

And you shall make the breastplate two rings and put two rings on the two edges of the breastplate. And you shall put the two two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastplate. And the two ends of the two cords you shall attach at the two settings of filigree. And so attached in front of the shoulder piece of the ephod. You see why we had a picture. It's hard. It it's it's hard to follow this. I don't know how Moses did this.

And you shall make two rings of gold and put them at the two ends of the breastplate and the inside edge next to the ephod. And you shall make two rings of gold and attach them in the front of the lower part of the two shoulders of the ephod at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod.

And you shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with lace of blue so that they may lie skillfully woven band of ephod so that the breastplate shall not lose from the ephod. 29 is very interesting. says, "So Aaron shall bear the names of the son of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord." Verse 30.

In the breastpiece of judgment, you shall put the yurum and the thum, and they shall be on Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly. I I I was reading through all of this, all the details, all the pieces of it, the intricacies of the woven. And honestly, guys, I I I called a and I I never could get it right on time.

I was trying to get in touch with the Catholic church to get like their priestly robe. I don't know if they would allowed it. I I wasn't trying to be like that was the only place I could think of that still used like robes. So, I I didn't get in contact with them or Marcus here would have probably been a priest tonight. So, I'm just kidding, man. But on all of that, in every piece of that that God was so intent with how he laid that in, I found it.

If you've if you've ever read um uh in in Isaiah chapter I want to say it's Isaiah chapter 14. No, Isaiah chapter 48 28. It's talking about um it it talks about uh son of the morning and and there's some it's some poetry there talking about Lucifer um and I think in in in in Ezekiel as well there's some poetry there talking about Lucifer and and the beauty and the ramament of it. Well, that was they were they were they were trying to portray this.

This could be, if I may, it could be it depends. The beauty of heaven can either be magnified or perverted by man. So, they're trying to God is saying, "Look, I'm I'm trying to transpose some things. You've Moses, I've shown you some things. You need to show some of the beauty of heaven here." Now the important part is man has to then reflect some things. Man has to he said bear on the breastplate of judgment on his heart shall bear the names of the sons.

You they shall be on Aaron's heart. When Aaron as as the high priest when he was to go before God it wasn't him going before God. It was his compassion. It was his heart. God, you see these people and yes, you could m you could kill them. You could rightfully destroy them, but I'm bringing them. They're heavy on my heart. You ever prayed for someone and had had that heaviness on your heart?

You ever You ever felt God wake you up in the middle of the night with a heaviness on your heart? God, stay your judgment for just a moment. Maybe give him another chance. that heaviness on your heart. Imagine how Aaron felt. He's got the 12 tribes. Now, when he goes in, he it it it's a it's a reminder to him, you're not here for you, Aaron. You're not here to just be in the presence of God for yourself. You're here to be in the presence of God for someone else.

And then in verse 38, uh actually verse 36, you shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a signant, holy to the Lord, and you shall fasten it on the turban by a blue cord, a cord of blue, and it shall be on the front of the turban. And then verse 38, it shall be on Aaron's forehead. So Aaron shall bear any of the guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts.

It shall regularly be on his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. So, not only does he bear the judgment on his heart, he bears the the knowledge to be holy on his head. God, I'm I'm going to walk into your presence and I know I need to be holy. What a kind God that he would remind us that he would he would put that on on if I may. Aaron, bind this to your head. Be holy for I am holy. Just remember this, Aaron. It's not easy.

You're just a man, but be holy for I am holy. There's some things that weigh on that, Aaron. There's you're you're carrying some weight on your heart. Be holy for I am holy. You're carrying some things on you that affect more than just yourself. You You've got some names, if I may. You've got the names of all your family written down. You're carrying that. Be holy, Aaron.

the the the breastplate of judgment, the the reminder, the plate of pure gold of the be holy, holy is the Lord, the holiness unto the Lord before he enters into the holy of holy. This was before he got into the presence of God. I wonder how many, if I may get a little preachy on us, I wonder how many of us wait until we get into the presence of God to rem be reminded of his holiness.

How many of us and and and and it doesn't mean it just means we have to be careful and we have to change the way we think about it and how we go about it. God, you're holy. I'm going I I have some things weighing on your holiness. I've got some judgment on my heart that I'm carrying. Maybe not for myself, but for someone else. Maybe I need to be aware of that. Maybe I need to live that way. Maybe I need to act that way. And if I may, that was what Aaron did.

That's what God called Aaron to do. It wasn't so he could just be a priest and and and work in a temple. It was so that he could bear the iniquities of man before God. That his heart would be heavy for them. In Leviticus chapter 9, uh verse 6 and seven, uh God God puts this very very succinctly. uh un on unarring.

And Moses said, "This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, so to the glory of the Lord may appear to you." Then Moses said to Aaron, "Draw near to the off altar. Offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them as the Lord commanded." This was this was Leviticus chapter 9. Leviticus 10.

Nadab and Abahu, the two the two sons of Aaron that had actually went and sat down and had, if I may, had supper with God. They brought strange fire. And God was like, "You can't do that. I I can't accept your strange fire." And so, he killed them. I don't have strange fire tonight. Has anyone got strange fire? Like a lighter? Anyone have like a fire? It'd be like bringing a firecracker into the church. I was like, "Don't do that. Don't. Please don't do it.

It would be a really fun lesson, but security guys might have a heart attack. The hearing sacrifice. So he he he if I may, what's a burnt What's a burnt sacrifice? Does anyone know what a burnt sacrifice is? Don't say supper, Dakota. A chicken. Burnt chicken. You're about to get shot, dude. You weren't supposed to say anything. Nobody was supposed to say anything. the a burnt sacrifice.

If I may, one of the proofs of God or one of the proofs of this priesthood was just how one of the was just how antithetical to human nature that God gave the instructions. Man would not sit down and think of all these things. They're very inconvenient for man to do. They're very They don't make sense. A burnt offering, it was literally you burn you burn the offering up and you take the you take the ashes and you throw them out. We don't want that. Why would you do?

It's a bull. Like you had you had to sacrifice a bull or or a goat or if you didn't have any money, you had to sacrifice a bird. And God was very, he was like, "But you're going to sacrifice something." Why? Why? Why would Why would man want want to do that? It wasn't. This was God saying, "You're going to have to offer you're going to have to surrender something to me. You're going to have to offer some value.

You're going to have to give me something." U now, we could turn that and say, "Talk about earning salvation, but that's not this was Old Testament, but the principle is still the same. God, what he still wants us. That's what surrendering to his will and his plan is is God, I'm giving you I'm not I'm not laying on the altar, but I am laying myself on the altar, my will, my plan, my desires.

uh the there's the presentation there's the stages of the of the this would be found in Leviticus chapter 1 and Leviticus chapter 4 Leviticus 1 deals with the burnt offering Leviticus 4 deals with the sin offering. Now, I realized teaching out of out of Leviticus and reading through Leviticus, there was there was this uh Canadian preacher. In fact, I thought of him before church. His name is brother uh oh Lord.

Any anyway, Don knows him because apparently Don's Canadian in case y'all didn't know that. He's he's straight up Canadian. But brother Le King would say Leviticus is a barring book. It's just a boring book. Like it just it's just boring. But it's it's intentional. Now, I've got a saying, boring is better. But like when reading through Leviticus, I'm not really sure if I believe that saying. Um yeah. Y'all with me tonight? With me?

This this this offering, this burnt offering, it had it had five points to it. It's the presentation, the laying on of the hands, the slaughter, the sprinkling of the blood, and the burning of the whole carcass. If I may, we have to present ourselves to God. We present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. And then in the in the in the New Testament, we find that that they were given the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.

There is a transference in a laying on of hands. If if anyone is sick among you, let him call for the elders of church and let them lay on the hands uh that the prayer of faith will heal them. The laying on of hands, there's a transference.

So they trans, if I may, they laid hands and the elders at a at a later point, we'll find that the eight the elders would gather around the 70 elders would lay their hands on and they would transfer symbolically transfer the sin of the people onto this. Now, has anyone ever heard of a scapegoat? You ever heard of a scapegoat? Has anyone ever been the scapegoat? Okay, listen. Sisters always act like they're the scapegoat. Always. I know.

I'm just I'm just getting in trouble all the time tonight. Scapegoats. It's the person that didn't do it, but they got in trouble for it anyway. It doesn't feel good to be the scapegoat, does it? It's like there is nothing there is nothing that enrages enrages you more than to be found guilty of something you did not do. It's awful. There is no good way to deal with that. There's no good way to uh to to say, you know what, I just enjoy being the scapegoat. That's fine.

Just blame me for it. Has anyone ever just said that? Just blame me for it. I I'll just take that on. Christian when she was she would do that every now and then. Oh, I'll just be the just poor pitiful me just was she ever like that for you? Absolutely not. The scapegoat. They would take the priest, the priest, and and we'll get to the day of atonement, but the priest would take the goat and he would confess the sins of the people to the goat.

That must have been a really long conversation. He's like, "Come on, guys. Why y'all doing this?" woman confessing the sins to this goat. This poor goat's like, "What in the world is happening here?" He would take a hold of its horns and he would confess the sins of the people to the goat. That's it's that's the funniest thing to think of, but he would he would confess it and then he would turn that goat loose into the wilderness and it would just it's the scapegoat.

It's it didn't do those sins, but it got burdened with all of those sins. Anyone ever confessed to you? You're like, "Please stop. For the love of God, please stop confessing to me right now. I do not want to know that." Or were you like, "Tell me more." No. I mean, maybe. But like in reality, it's like, "Please stop confessing. I can't deal with that. I cannot process what you have done or what they have done. It's messing up my world." That's what the scapegoat was.

The poor goat. It was probably one of those fainting goats, too. But that was that was the the transference. And and there there's some particulars around the scapegoat that I won't get into, but the the idea is someone's got to pay for it. I mean, the government's shut down right now, right? And if you're an American politician, apparently no one has to pay for it. All right? But like someone has to pay for it at some point in time. We all know that to be true.

I It's just and and and there is no such thing as free. Hey, we got you free. Who Who's signed up for like a free cruise before? Who signed up for like enter for your chance to win this? Anyone signed up for like one of those? Like put your number in that. Go ahead. Ra raise your hand. Have you? Yeah. Kind of. How many phone calls did you get that were just like telemarketing you? Yeah. It wasn't free. You had to pay. Now, I may have signed up somebody else for that.

I did not want all those phone calls. That's there's there is no such thing as something free there. If if if uh in social media, if the product is free, you're the product. Okay? Like that's that's that's the rule in Silicon Valley. If you're if if you're getting something for free, Facebook, if it's for free, the reason it's free is they're getting your data and they're making billions off of it. Nothing is free. How much more would sin be?

Someone's got to carry the weight of that. Now, here here in that that was that was the burnt offering. The day of atonement was now if I may in Leviticus 23 26 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying now on the 10th day of the seven month is a day of atonement. Now this was the Jewish calendar so it wouldn't have been October 10th I don't believe or 7th on the seventh day of the seventh month. It it was some somewhere anyway. It's called Yonkipper.

If you see that on your calendar now it's called Yonkipper. It's the day of atonement. It's the most holy day. It shall be for you a a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. You should not do any work on that day, for is a day of atonement, and to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whoever whoever is not afflicted on that day shall be cut off from his people.

And whoever does not who does any work on that day, that person I will destroy from among his people. God took this very serious uh very serious. And you shall not do any work. It is a statue forever through your generations in all your dwelling places. It shall be to you a s a Sabbath, a solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourself on the ninth day of the morning, beginning at evening. From evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath, the day of atonement.

This was the day that the high priest took the sins of the people into the Holy of Holies before the mercy seat. I don't fully understand all of this and why, but I do know that God is very intentional with whom and why. It wasn't about the priest. It wasn't about, if I may, we're going to talk about the qualified church. And I'm trying to lay the foundation. And you guys are going to get really tired of me laying foundations because I'm a I'm just a foundation layer, right?

just a brick layer. The foundation being that it's not about the priest. It's not it's the person. It's not it's about the office. It's not If I may to to allude to where we're going, he said, "I've called you what? To be a holy nation, a royal priesthood." Called you to be a royal priesthood. A lot of us in in illusion to where I'm going with this, a lot of us feel unworthy and unable to fulfill something. But if I may, we're making it about ourselves.

In all of this, yes, Aaron had to he had to purify himself, but it wasn't so his sins could be cleansed. It was so that the people's sins could be cleansed and he had to carry that weight. So, if you would, would you would we're I'm going to come to a close. I'm out of time tonight. Everyone say, "Thank God. I'm out of time tonight." Sister Mandy, I can always count on you to catch Justin left. So, I can count on you tonight. He had to go pick up kids.

Don't forget to pick up your kids. The uh the the whole point of the priesthood was not Aaron. It was not his descendants. It was not his sons. It was God needed a mediator. God God needed someone that could get past themselves enough to carry the weight of others. If you would, would you bow your heads with me real quick and let's pray. Jesus, we love you. God, we thank you so much for your kindness, for your goodness, and your mercy. You've been so kind to us, God.

Lord, I pray, Lord, as we are learning about the qualified church, the priesthood, the the church that you are you have built and you've laid the foundation for, God, I pray, Lord, that you would help us to see past ourselves, to see past the the the principles or the type and the shadow. And God, you would help us to see your your glory and your fulfillment. God, help us, God, to be ministers in and of ourselves, to carry your word throughout all this world.

We'll be careful to give you all the praise, the glory, and the honor. And everybody said, "Amen." Thank you guys. We'll wor we'll have worship here in just a few moments. Come on. You got one more chance to give God your praise. You are good. You been real real good. You been so good to me, Lord. You are good. You mattered. Why would I well that won't run. This is more than just a cry. But this is a running deep.

I can hear the voice of the Lord calling us deeper, calling us deeper. And I have lived on to the veil so we could be close. So why are we waiting when you are here waiting? I can hear the voice of the Lord. He's calling us. I can hear the voice. I can hear the voice of the Lord. He's calling your name. He's calling us. I can hear his voice. I can hear the voice of the Lord. He's pulling you. He wants to know what's better. I can hear his voice. He's calling us.

He's calling us deeper. Sing deeper, deeper, deeper. We want deeper. I'm not sisfied. Jesus. Jesus. We want We want We want We need you, God. We need you. I can hear his voice. I can hear the voice of the Lord. He's calling us calling us deeper right now. I can hear the voice of the Lord. I can hear the voice of the Lord calling us deeper. We want more. Now we want more. I dare you, God. I'm not sisfied. I need you, God. I'm desperate. I can hear the voice of the Lord.

He's calling us deeper. Do you hear his voice? Do you hear the voice of the Lord? He's calling you deeper. Call us deeper. Why would I thirst when you're dry? I have lived on to the veil so we could be close. So I when he waits. We all lift our hands in this place. You are not forgotten for you alone and he's fighting your battle. There will be times where you can't see Why don't we all stand together in the room and find our place wherever you want to be.

We're going to enter into a time of worship, but before we do, we're going to pray and ask the Lord to move in the room, to move in our personal space. So thankful to see you tonight, encouraged by seeing you. Thankful to be able to break open the word with you and be challenged and changed. Amen. Let's ask the Lord to have his way in the room. Would you help me, Lord? Would you lift your voices with me? Jesus, we love you today. Thank you, God, for your mercies and grace.

Thank you for the opportunity to know you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege to know you, God. Thank you for your heart, Jesus, that's toward us tonight. Thank you for the thoughts that you think toward us, Jesus. Thank you for the plans and purposes that you have.

Thank you Lord for the chance to be together again tonight God to re receive from your word to commune with your people Lord to worship you collectively Lord we don't want to take another moment for granted we're thankful Jesus thankful for your heart Lord let your spirit move freely in the room God we surrender every member Lord every part of ourselves God we want to offer you great praise and worship ship. We want to give you adoration that you're worthy of.

Lord, we understand that we could never measure up. We could never be worthy. But Lord, you have made us. You have formed us and shaped us, Jesus. And we are called to worship. Called to lift you up and magnify you, Jesus. So, let your kingdom come in this room, Jesus. Let your will be done in Jesus name. and let the atmosphere of heaven come down in the room, Jesus, and sweep over this place and over my heart and mind, God. We give you a place, Jesus.

And we offer you, Lord, a sacrifice of praise to your name, Jesus. To your name, Jesus. Hallelujah, Lord. I love you, Jesus. I love you and I thank you for who you are. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you for every time that you've healed, for every time that you've made a way. Thank you, Jesus. Come on. Are you thankful for him? Are you thankful for what he's done in your life? Are you thankful that you're here and in your right mind tonight? Come on.

It's all because of Jesus. It's all because of Jesus. It's not because of what we've done, not because of what we've accomplished. It's not in and of ourselves. Come on. It's a gift from him. Come on, put your hands together and give him thanks in the room. Come on, give him thanks. Hallelujah, Jesus. We bless your name, Jesus. We give you glory, Jesus. I have been broken. I have been bruised. I've had my battles and I've been accused. But still I will trust you.

Still I will go withholding nothing from you God. So here I stand with my heart open wide, with my hands lifted up. I say I surrender all to you. I surrender my soul to you. I surrender over to your will. I surrender my mind to you. I surrender my heart to you. I surrender completely to you Lord. Here I am giving my heart. I need you, Lord, to break through my walls. I give you my life. I give you my home ready for you to revive my soul.

Here I stand, heart open wide, hands lifted up. I surrender all to you. I surrender my soul to you. I surrender over to your will. I surrender. I surrender my mind to you. I surrender my heart to Jesus. I surrender completely to Lord. Lord I surrender. So Lord take my pride. Take my life. I surrender to your will. To your way. To your plan. I surrender. Take my pride. Take my fear. Take my life. I surrender to your will, to your way, to your plan.

I surrender, take my pride, take my fear, take my life. I surrender to your will. To your way, your desire, Jesus, I surrender. Take my pride. Take my Jesus. Take my I am I surrender to your will to your way to your plan. I surrender. Take my pride. Take my fear. Take my life. I surrender to your will to your plan. I surrender. Take my pride. Take my fear. Take my life. I surrender to your will, to your way, to your plan. I surrender, oh Jesus, I surrender. I surrender.

I surrender. Thank you Jesus. We surrender to you oh God. Hallelujah. All that I have I pour out before you Jesus. I surrender. Oh Jesus. So like oil, I'll pour everything upon you, Lord. And if I find more, I'll give you more of me. Take all of me. So like oil, I'll pour everything upon you, Lord. And if I find more, I'll give you more of me. Take all of me like I'll pour everything upon you, Lord. And if I find more, I'll give you more of thee. Take all of me.

I'll pour everything upon you, Lord. And if I find more, I'll give you more of me. Take on me for like I'll pour everything upon you, Lord. And if I find more, I'll give you more of me. take on me. My go everything upon you, Lord. And if I find more, I'll give you more of me. Take all, take all of you. I'll give you more. I'll give you more of me. Take all of me. I'll give you more. Take all of me. I'll give you more. Take all of me, Jesus.

I'll give I'll give you more of me. Take all of me. and take my pride. Take my fear. Take my pride. I surrender to your will. To your way, to your plan. I surrender. Take my pride. Take my fear. Take my life. I surrender. To your will. To your way. To your plan. I surrender. Oh Jesus, I I surrender. I surrender. Come on. Would you lift your hands toward heaven and just surrender for a moment? Come on. I challenge you. I challenge you right here to surrender every member.

Come on. Would you surrender for a moment? Oh God, I give you my pride, my selfish ambition, for my dreams and plans, Jesus, because you do it better. You do it better, Jesus. Lord, help us to trust you, Jesus. Help us to trust you on another level, God. Lord, greater than we've ever trusted you before, Jesus. If we could trust you with the most secret thing, if we could trust you with our deepest desires, Lord, that you have my best interest at heart. That you see me, Lord.

Oh, I surrender everything to you, Jesus. Surrender everything Jesus. Take my breath. Take. But God, you don't understand. God, it hurts too much. Oh, there's too much fear in my life. I can't give that part to you. I can't let go control Jesus. No.

Well, there's somebody in the room that has walked in with traumas, with situations in your life, and you're afraid to let go of it and put it back in the master's hands because you can't handle being hurt again, and you've not trusted it with anybody else. But I'm telling you that the spirit of the Lord is here in the room tonight to remind you that he loves you. That he is a God who cares and who sees you. And he is somebody that you can trust.

He is somebody that you can put your hopes and dreams in his hands. And he will not destroy them. Come on. He won't destroy you. Come on. He's a loving God. I would that you would lift your hands one more time in the room. Come on. If you are a neighbor to somebody and you know that they're dealing with a situation, I'm encouraging right now to reach over and put your hand on their shoulder. Come on. I need to let the body be the body tonight just for a few moments.

Jesus, help us to trust you, Jesus, with the deepest pains, with the deepest hurts of our life, Jesus, because your plan is better. Your purpose is better. Your ways are better, Jesus. When I know it hurts, I know it's difficult. to your will, to your plan, to your way. I surrender. Take my life. Take my take my life. I surrender to your will to Jesus.

You see, it was like as as as they started singing about surrender, it was like there was a breath of fresh air just kind of moved through the place. It was like there was a breath of of comfort red fled just just moved through it from one side to the other that the spirit of the Lord moved upon us as we chose to surrender.

Can I ask you tonight to lift your hands and lift your voice to a most holy God that allows us to take our problems, our fears, our issue, our self that would weigh us down and just say, "God, I give it to you." Would you lift your voice unto him for just a moment? God, I worship you. God, I thank you. God, I praise you. God, I magnify you. God, I thank you. Lord, you've taken the You've TAKEN THE WEIGHT OF SIN off of me and you've put it on your own shoulders.

God, YOU'VE TAKEN THE SIN OF THIS world and you have given ME A PATH TO SALVATION. You've given me a path to to renewal. God, you've taken the sin of this world and you've given me a path THAT I CAN FIND MY WAY out of me, GOD. OH, SOMEBODY lift up your voice. Lift up your hands. Put your hands to God. You are a holy God. You're a merciful God. You're a holy Lord. You're a righteous God. You're so good. You've been so kind to me. You've been mercy upon me, Lord. Hallelujah.

God, I praise you. God, I worship you. God, I magnify you. There's no one like you, Lord, in all the earth. YOU'RE MY GOD. YOU'RE MY SAVIOR. You're my everything. Jesus, I need you today. Oh, hallelujah to the lamb that was slain. Hallelujah to the most high God. Hallelujah to the merciful savior. Come on, somebody. Somebody rejoice with me right now. Hallelujah. God, I worship you. God, I praise you. You brought me out of the sin that I was in.

You brought me out of the darkness of this world. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God does not love me. I surrender to your will, to your way, to your plan. Come on, lift your hands. Come on, lift your hands in this place. Take my life, Jesus. I surrender to your will, to your way, to your plan. I surrender. Oh Jesus, I surrender every part of me. Jesus, I surrender. I surrender. I surrender.

Come on, somebody just entertain the presence of the Lord in the room. Come on. We're not done here yet. Jesus is moving. Jesus is speaking to hearts in the room. Come on. Don't disconnect and and and turn it off yet. Jesus, we're here for you, Lord. We surrender every member and every part of ourselves, Jesus, making ourselves available to you, Jesus, to your will, to your way, to your plan. Come on, one more time with me. One more time, would you with me real quick?

God, I thank you. Can we let a spirit of praise to get a hold of us here tonight? Can we put our hands together? God, I worship you. God, I thank you for your mercy. Come on. We didn't deserve the mercy that we've received. God, I magnify you, Jesus. I thank you, Jesus. I worship you. WHAT A GOOD GOD. WHAT A holy Lord. Jesus, I thank you, God. I praise you, Jesus. Oh, I surrender. I surrender.

It's so interesting that the universal sign for I've won is also the universal sign for surrender. Isn't it Isn't that interesting? I've won. I've surrendered. Wait, I've won. It's almost a study in contradiction, but each of us know it to be true that God's been so kind to us. He's had so much mercy upon us. What a refreshing feeling. What a refreshing feeling of the Lord. Somebody feel a little lighter. It ain't because of Weight Watchers or the uh or Zimpic.

Can't call them out like that, Brother Rob. Or uh what is it? The the meat diet, the all meat diet, the carnivore diet. It's not because of that. That's because of the mercy of God. We win when we lose. Biggest losers in the world, huh? Bunch of losers. Thank you guys so much for being here at Midweek University. I believe that that God moves on us as a body each and every time that we come together. That God God has a plan for us. It's not just a time to come and hang out.

I mean, I like you guys, but I don't like you that much. I like hanging out by myself sometime. Yeah, I got a motorcycle. You can't hang out with anybody on a motorcycle. You just ride. But you know what? I sure like hanging out with God and God's people. Amen.