FBCPS
How You are a Priest | Leviticus 8-10
Could you ever imagine the weight of responsibility carried by the priests in ancient Israel? Today, we embark on a journey through the monumental inauguration of the priesthood as described in Leviticus 9, drawing illuminating analogies to make these ancient practices relatable and meaningful to our modern lives. We reflect on the solemn account of Nadab and Abihu, whose unauthorized worship led to dire consequences, reinforcing the importance of obedience and reverence in our worship. We delve into the concept of God's royal priesthood, our role within it, and the transformative power of prayer and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Could you ever imagine the weight of responsibility carried by the priests in ancient Israel? Today, we embark on a journey through the monumental inauguration of the priesthood as described in Leviticus 9, drawing illuminating analogies to make these ancient practices relatable and meaningful to our modern lives. We reflect on the solemn account of Nadab and Abihu, whose unauthorized worship led to dire consequences, reinforcing the importance of obedience and reverence in our worship. We delve into the concept of God's royal priesthood, our role within it, and the transformative power of prayer and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
right now for all that God is doing here at First Baptist Church, powder Springs. I just wanna say thank you to our worship team, thank you to our production team that's coming out with our teaching TV. I wanna say thank you to all of our connection group leaders or small group leaders, sunday school teachers, everyone who's a greeter. Maybe you're out in the parking lot, maybe you're at our Next Step stations, maybe you are serving in some way today or serving you've been serving during this week in some way. It just it takes a church to reach a community and I just want to say thank you for being here. Not all of us are here this morning. Some did go to the 930 as we had our new choir and orchestra worship pastor with us this morning. We'll talk about more of that here in just a minute, but I'm glad that you're here because you matter and God's got a word for you this morning. A couple of things before we get started. First of all, as a church we are going to be observing the Lord's Supper together. Always want to give you a heads up it's not going to be next Sunday, but it'll be the following Sunday, july 28th. It'll be on a Sunday morning at both of our services. So it's just our opportunity to remember Jesus's death together as we celebrate what he has done for our salvation. Also, I want you to know that we've got something called up, coming up called the Great Grill Out. The Great Grill Out, and that's going to be the first Wednesday night of the fall semester of school, the first Wednesday night, august 7th. So we're going to have hamburgers, we're going to have hot dogs, we'll have food and door prizes, drawings so you can come and win a prize, inflatables, games, music and fun. And the whole point is for all of us to come together, because Wednesday nights are starting back up and so we're just gonna just have a great time together for a couple of hours there on August the 7th. And it's also your opportunity, because not everybody you invite will come. Not everybody you invite can come on a Sunday, just because of everyone's different schedules. We want them to come on the Lord's day, but there are some people that will only come and check us out or that can come on a Wednesday, and so we want you to invite your neighbors, we want you to invite those, maybe a part of your work, those a part of your school, those in the community, friends and family that you have, and we're just gonna feed everybody and it's all free. And the whole point is we just wanna build relationship with people and we just wanna show them we don't just wanna be a church in their community relationship with people and we just want to show them. We don't just want to be a church in their community, but we want to be a church for their community that they can come and they can experience community here. If you got it, say I got it. Here we go.
Speaker 1:We are getting into our series this morning in the book of Leviticus. You can go and turn to Leviticus, chapter nine right now, leviticus chapter nine. But I want to tell you a quick story. Before we begin. Let me pray, heavenly Father. God, I pray right here and right now that it is not my words that'll be heard, god, it would be your word that is heard in our hearts. God, I pray that you would speak to us by the power of your Holy Spirit. God, speak to us life-giving words that point us to Jesus, your son. God, that it would all be for your glory. And Father, I pray that if anyone has come here today and they're not saved, I pray that today would be their day of salvation. If anybody needs to be baptized, god, I pray that they would make that decision today. Father, if any other things that you're calling us to do in our life, god, I pray that you would just be faithful to the calling you put in our hearts. We love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:It was a Saturday evening some 12 years ago. My parents were in their home in Pensacola, florida just them two. And on a Saturday evening they started to smell smoke. My dad opened up a closet where there was like an HVAC return and smoke started billowing out. He screamed out to my mom Susan, I think we've got a fire. And so he says so. He goes to the garage. He touches the garage doorknob. It's hot, it burns his hand. He opens it up and the garage is engulfed in flames. He calls out to my mom Susan, call 911. She calls 911. The lady says well, ma'am, I understand you have a fire. My mom's telling her that. She says where are you right now, ma'am? My mom says, well, I'm in the kitchen. She says, well, ma'am, leave the kitchen and go outside. Please At this time. Please go outside. She said where is your husband? She looks over, she sees through the garage door. My dad just got inside of his car, in the burning garage, because he wanted to back his car, which is filled with gasoline, out of the fire.
Speaker 1:There is some point in time in a man's life that we think that we are Superman. We think that we are Superman, we think that we're immortal, we think nothing will happen. My dad starts up a car filled with gas in midst of an engulfing and raging fire and the car stalls. Thankfully, we think it probably melted in some way that he could not back it out. All the way he gets out of the car, he runs to safety, my mom runs to safety and their house goes through a total loss.
Speaker 1:It was a hard day for my family. It was a very difficult day because we weren't exactly sure what was gonna happen next and how God was gonna provide. But God did bless and God did provide. But it was kind of one of those moments where, some 12 years ago, that the roles had to be reversed and I had to sit down with my dad for a minute and I was like now, dad, I need to teach you a very important lesson. We're not going to play with fire, okay, so repeat after me.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like a moment where, where you parent your parents, you know what I'm saying, and and, and we kind of had to have that little role reversal there. Why? Because isn't it interesting that God created fire for our good, but when it's not used for good, it can be a danger to our very lives. It's interesting how God created fire for good uses, like cooking, right, and we can cook with fire and we get to eat because of things that were made with fire or from, like a fireplace, from warmth getting heat so that we don't freeze in the wintertime or on the cold days. God made fire for good things, but also fire made for wrong things can be a very dangerous thing and I want you to understand that, as we're in this series set apart, that we are seeing in the book of Leviticus and we're seeing all throughout the Bible that God uses fire as a symbol to teach us some very important spiritual reality.
Speaker 1:See, the Old Testament is full of physical pictures to teach us the spiritual truth, the spiritual realities of the New Testament, the word that we see used over and over and over again in the book of Leviticus is the word holy. Everyone say holy. It is used more in Leviticus than any other book of the Bible. That's why you love Leviticus so much. That's why you just have to read Leviticus over and over and over again. I know it's your favorite book, I know that's why I wanted to preach on it.
Speaker 1:And so you see this word holy and holy, holy, all over, over and over again. Why? Because God is saying the word holy means set apart, first and foremost. Hear me, god is holy. The Bible says that he is holy, so he is set apart. What is he set apart from? He is set apart from all sin. He's set apart from all evil. He's set apart from all wickedness, all rebellion, all unrighteousness. God is set apart from all of. He's set apart from all wickedness, all rebellion, all unrighteousness. God is set apart from all of the creation. God is set apart from us. He's set apart from human beings. God is transcendent, god is eternal, god is immortal. God is the holy one and God is the only one who is God. God is holy, he is set apart. Can I get an amen this morning? He is the one that we worship. We worship the set apart one.
Speaker 1:But then it gets even crazier because God says something so crazy in his word and he says about you. God says about you. He says and I want you to be holy, for I am holy. And sometimes we read that passage and we think, well, I could never do that, because we think God is talking about his perfection. We think God is saying to us I want you to be perfect because I am perfect, and we think I could never even pretend to be perfect so often we. Sometimes we think I'm not even gonna try. But when God said to you be holy, for I'm holy, he's not saying be perfect, for I'm perfect. You know what he's saying. He's saying be set apart because I am set apart. In other words, let me try to explain this for a second, because I think this is so important for your life, for my life, for our church. God is saying that he is doing something in your life before you are able to do it on your own.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that when he saves you, he sets you apart. He makes you holy through the holiness and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In other words, your position, the way that God sees you, is holy, is set apart from sin, is set apart from all the other peoples of the earth, is set apart to him. So when God says to be holy, first and foremost, it is your position in Jesus Christ that he has made you holy, and then our call is to start to live according to what he's already made you to be. Another way of saying it is this is that when God saved you, he justified you, he declared you righteous in Christ and because of your justification, then the Bible says you get to experience sanctification, that you get to go through this metamorphosis, this transformation of becoming more like Jesus throughout your life. And the Bible says that when you die and when you're in heaven, the Bible says that when you see Jesus, you're gonna be glorified, you're gonna be made like him. Because you see him as he is, you will then be perfected in the holiness of God for all of eternity.
Speaker 1:Do you see the importance of understanding that God is set apart and that we are set apart, that God has set us apart, and last week we learned about that we are set apart. God has set us apart through the sacrifices of Jesus Christ, and this week I want you to see who you're set apart to be. You are set apart to be a priest. Who you're set apart to be. You are set apart to be a priest. You're set apart to be a priest. If I can be honest with you this morning, this is why I love preaching through books of the Bible that we don't normally get to hear preached through, because we get to hear important truths that we don't always get to hear preached on.
Speaker 1:And there's something so important that God is telling us in Leviticus that the priesthood of the Old Testament, the priesthood of Leviticus, when Jesus died and rose from the dead, the priesthood didn't translate into the pastorate. The priesthood translated into the disciples, into the followers of Jesus, into Christians. The priesthood translates into you. God says and we'll get to it at the end of the sermon that you are a royal, a holy priesthood. And this morning the question is what in the world does that mean? Because if that's who we are, then don't we wanna understand who God made us to be, don't we wanna understand deeper how we can live, who God made us to be? So if we wanna get there, then we first gotta start in the Old Testament. So we'll get to Leviticus here in a second.
Speaker 1:We'll start with Exodus, chapter 28, verses one through two. We'll look at the Old Testament, priest number one, exodus 28,. One through two says then Moses, bring near to you Aaron, your brother and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests, to serve me as priests. What do priests do as priests? To serve me as priest, what do priests do? Priests go to God for people and priests go to people for God. Let me say it again Priests go to God for people and priests go to people for God.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like back in the day when you were in middle school. How many of y'all remember your middle school years? Raise your hand, how many of y'all would like to forget your middle school years? Raise your hand and it's like you're back in middle school. And if you can remember, if you liked somebody, did you go and tell that person that you liked them? Oh, no, you did not. No, no, no. You had to write a letter. Do you like me? Check yes or no. And then you had to go find a friend. Would you please go and take this to them, right? And then, with that person, checked, yes or no. Did they bring you the letter? Oh, no, they did not. No, they checked yes or no. They brought it back to the friend and then the friend brings it to you. Who is the friend? The friend is a mediator. The friend goes to somebody that you like for you and goes back to you for that person who likes you. Unless they check no, then it's the worst day of your life and that's what happens in middle school. It's funny enough.
Speaker 1:It's kind of a little bit like the way that Michelle and I met and I did not write her a letter check yes or no, do you like me, yes or no? I did not do that, but we had mutual friends. I had a mutual friend that came to me and he started dating Michelle's best friend and they started dating and they said you know, as we're dating, joe said well, I've got a friend, his name is Chip and Julie said I got a friend, her name is Michelle, and we think they really need to meet together. So Joe gave me a call and he said hey, I've got somebody I'd like for you to meet. Would you like to meet her? I said, well, let me just see a picture of her. And he showed me a picture of her and I said she looks really godly, like she loves Jesus. I think I'd like to meet her. I'd love to meet her and so, sure enough she. Obviously because Joe and Julie knew us that we both had to love Jesus in order to love one another. And they introduced us to one another. And that's what priests do.
Speaker 1:Priests would go into the tabernacle and priests would pray in the tabernacle to God. Priests would pray for people to God. Priests would worship God in the tabernacle. They would study the word of God to teach people. They would teach people the word of God. Priests would make sacrifices for God to forgive the people. Priests would go to God for people, but priest would also go to people for God. They would receive the sacrifices from the people, the offerings, the tithes. They would lead the people in worship. They would lead people in singing the praises of God. The priest would actually be the ones who played the instruments. They would teach the people the word of God. They would teach the people how to live for God.
Speaker 1:He said bring near to Aaron your brother, his sons with him among the people of Israel, to do what? To serve me as priest, aaron and his sons, nadab and Abihu, eleazar and Ithamar, and you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty. The priest would wear special holy garments. Hear me to stand out from all the other people who were the priests. They were the Levites. They were the tribe of Levi.
Speaker 1:About one in every 12 Israelites were a priest. They were one of the 12 tribes, but they would walk around dressed differently. They would dress differently so that God could show people that who are able to go and to be in his express presence. It was the priest who could go into the tabernacle. It was the priest who could go into the tent. It was the high priest who could go into the tabernacle. It was the priest who could go into the tent. It was the high priest who could go into the Holy of Holies. We're not gonna get there. But Exodus 28 says that the priest would wear a breast piece, an ephod, a robe, a coat, a turban, a sash, and it would be blue, purple and scarlet. The whole point of the priest was this that they wouldn't look like everybody else but at.
Speaker 1:Priests were not to be filled with pride. Priests were not to be arrogant people. Priests were not to be pious. Priests were to be humble, grateful servants of God, who would get to go into the tabernacle and experience the very presence of God and hear from God, and they would go out among the people and they would tell the people what it's like to be with God. It was this physical picture of the day for the spiritual reality of our day, of why God instituted the priesthood.
Speaker 1:And now we are in Leviticus, chapter nine, and this is a day that we rarely talk about as Christians, as a church. This is this inaugural day in all of Israel. You know what day this is. This is the day if you could imagine, like if Disney came to Atlanta and if Disney built their largest theme park in Atlanta and it took years to build and years to hire people and years for all the rides, and then finally the day was there and we are all invited to be a part of that day. That's what's going on and being a part of this day in this scripture, that God had given them the instructions for the tabernacle to worship him, that God had given them the instructions for the sacrifices to sacrifice to him, that God had given them the instructions of the priest to minister to him and to them. And now this is the day that God is bringing it all together. This is one of the craziest, most awesome celebration party days of all of the Bible.
Speaker 1:And the Bible said it didn't just last for a day. The Bible said that it lasted for seven, even eight days. The Bible says that all of the assembly of Israel gathered around the tabernacle we are talking millions of Israelites. At this point, the priests come for the first time wearing their priestly garments. They're anointed with oil, bulls are being sacrificed, rams are being sacrificed, unleavened bread is being offered to God. The priests are being washed over and over again, symbolizing the cleansing, the consecration, the purity of God.
Speaker 1:God then tells the priest to sit at the tabernacle gate for seven days and not to leave. It was a symbol that they were to be a part of the tabernacle, they were to be a part of the people, but that this was only by the blessing of God that they were called to be mediators for the people of God. And then, on the eighth day, we see what happens in Leviticus, chapter nine, verse 22 through 24. On the eighth day of this, as they were sitting there for seven days, it says Aaron lifted up his hands. Why do we lift up our hands in worship. We lift up our hands in worship to God because that's the direction in which that we believe that God is, that God is above us, that he is, is over us and he is all around us. The Bible says that we lift up holy hands to God in worship and prayer. I would challenge you, I would encourage you, to, at times, lift your hands in worship to God, as you worship him, as you pray to him, as a symbol of surrender, as a symbol of victory, as a symbol of prayer. As a symbol of victory, as a symbol of prayer, as a symbol of worship, aaron lifted his hands toward the people and he blessed them and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offering. These are these animal and grain sacrifices. If you want to hear more about them, you can listen to the sermon last week that we talked about each of these and even a couple more.
Speaker 1:Verse 23, and Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron went into the presence of God, where God ruled, where God reigned, where God resided, where God rested as a pillar of fire. They're on the Ark of the Covenant. They were in the very presence of God. Notice, they go into the tent to be with God and they come out of the tent to be with the people and when they came out they blessed the people and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. What was the glory of the Lord? It would be people. What was the glory of the Lord? It would be that pillar of cloud, or that pillar of fire in this case, that would literally come down from heaven and extend to heaven and come to earth and rest on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant there in the Holy of Holies, before the people were. All can see. And the Bible says that fire came out from before the Lord. From that pillar, more fire came out from before the Lord. From that pillar, more fire came out and it consumed the burnt offering that was on the altar. In other words, god lit the altar and the altar was to always be burning. And the pieces of the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and they fell on their faces and they fell on their faces.
Speaker 1:When we experience God, we can't be quiet. When we experience God, we can't just sit or just stand. Not all the times, but there are times in our life that we must fall on our face, we must get on our knees, that we cannot be quiet, that we must fall on our face, we must get on our knees, that we cannot be quiet, that we must shout for joys of praise to the glory of God. Can I get an amen? We are not called to be a quiet church. We're called to be a worshipful church. We're called to be a church as we experience the presence of God, that we would shout and we would fall on our faces and we would get to experience the presence of God, that we would shout and we would fall on our faces and we would get to experience the very worship that God has in store for us. And you won't believe what has happened next. You may have heard what has happened next, but I did not realize for a long time that these were linked together.
Speaker 1:The very next verse Leviticus, chapter 10, verse one says this Leviticus, chapter 10, verse one, says this Now, nadab and Abihu they were the sons of Aaron Each took his censer and put fire in their censer and they laid incense on it and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. I just gotta imagine that. These two are like middle school boys. I just gotta imagine. I just see it. I just see it because they're there on the eighth day and all the people are there. They're getting so excited. They're called to be priests. They didn't do anything to get to be a priest. They were just born to Aaron. That's how they got to be priests. So there they are. They've been sitting on their hands at the entrance of the tabernacle for seven days and now all the people are there and everything is being sacrificed and the fire of God falls and everybody shouts and falls in their faces.
Speaker 1:I can just see Nadab and Abihu just giving each other high fives man, dude, this is awesome, we get to be a part of this. This is crazy. And they see their dad making these sacrifices Like dude, this is awesome, let's try this ourselves. So they grab their and they go with the fire and the incense and they try to do it all themselves. And the Bible says and fire came out from before the Lord again, but this time it didn't consume the sacrifices. This time it consumed the boys and they died before the Lord. We don't exactly know why this was so wrong or what exactly they did, but we know that it was wrong.
Speaker 1:We see in verse three and Moses said to Aaron this is what the Lord has said among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. Before all the people, I will be glorified, and Aaron before all the people. I will be glorified and Aaron held his peace. Here's what we. We don't know much. In fact, probably every different commentary, every different book, every different author, professor you read is probably gonna give you a different interpretation on this passage. I can't tell you exactly what happened. I wasn't there but here's what I can tell you. Why would God take the boys' lives? Because they did something that God not only did not tell them to do, but he told them not to do it.
Speaker 1:We see here in this passage the seriousness that God takes his worship. We see here in this passage, the seriousness that God takes his obedience. We see here in this passage the seriousness that God takes his obedience. We see here in this passage that we are called to be people that should know the word of God, what God has for our lives. And the Bible is true in its honestness. It says that the wages of sin is death. So we should take God very seriously, we should take his worship seriously, we should take his word very seriously.
Speaker 1:We don't know exactly what they did, but in looking at the passage when God said I will be sanctified, I will be glorified, it looks like this that the boys were watching and the boys said this is so cool, this is so awesome. Everybody is falling on their face to God, everybody is looking at our dad. We wanna be a part of this. We want everybody to look at us and they turned the attention and the worship of God to them. They made worship about them.
Speaker 1:That's the danger of my life as a pastor that I can't make our church about me Because our church is not about me. Our church is about God. Can I get an amen? And that's the danger for you as a church member that you can't make church about you Because our church is not about me and our church is not about you. Our church is about God. The question is, how has God called us to be from his word and by his spirit in order to be his church? We must always make worship about him. We must always make our sermons about him. We must always make our groups about him. We must always make our serve teams about him. We must always make our groups about him. We must always make our serve teams about him. We must always make our mission, our evangelism, reaching this community, about him, because it is not about us. That is unauthorized worship before the Lord.
Speaker 1:God says do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that which he also shall reap. Hebrews 10, 31,. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. See, here's the deal. Is that the only way for you and I to experience God, the only way for you and I to have God in our life, the only way for you and I to go to heaven, is if we do not sin against him. Just let that sink in for a second. Every sin that we commit against God is worthy of his judgment, is worthy of our death. The wages of sin is death.
Speaker 1:So aren't you thankful that God gave us a great high priest whose name is Jesus? So aren't you thankful that God gave us a great high priest whose name is Jesus? The Bible says in Hebrews, chapter nine, verses 11 through 14,. Hear me that Jesus is the one who obeyed every single law. Jesus is the one who obeyed every single command. Jesus is the one who never sinned. So God gave us the opportunity to place our faith in Jesus so that we could be saved, in Jesus Christ, so that we could have a relationship with God, so that we can have a home in heaven. Because of what Jesus has done for us, put your hands together right now for Jesus, who is our great high priest. Jesus has done this for you, jesus has done this for us. And sometimes Hebrews is confusing, but let me read this to you. We see our great high priestess.
Speaker 1:Aaron was the high priest, but yet all of the priesthood maybe there were hundreds of high priests throughout the Old Testament, thousands, if not at times millions of priests throughout all of the Old Testament, decades and years. That it all funnels down. It all boils down into one man, the God man, the great, eternal, final, once and for all high priest, jesus Christ. Hebrews 9, 11 through 14,. But when Christ appeared as our high priest of the good things that have to come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not just the physical tent of the tabernacle, but he's talking about the tent of heaven, not made with our hands, that is, this is not of creation. This is heaven. This is otherworldly. The Bible says that Jesus entered once and for all into the holy places. He didn't go in by the means of blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, if you ever thought they could sanctify or purify the flesh, how much more will the blood of Jesus Christ, who, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish to God that he would purify our conscious from dead works to serve the living God. Jesus is your high priest, who did not just make a sacrifice for you. Jesus is a high priest who became the sacrifice for you, for your salvation. Can I get an amen? You have a high priest. His name is Jesus. He's our mediator between us and God. What does he do? He goes to the Father for you. The Bible says he prays for you and the Bible says that he goes to you for the Father. He is our mediator. He goes to God for you. He goes to you for God Just met a young man this week.
Speaker 1:His name was Noah. Noah gave us a call. It was on Monday or Tuesday, I'm trying to remember and he gave us a call about probably about 8.30 in the morning and Wendy Jones, my ministry assistant. She picked up the phone, she said hello, and he said hey, my name's Noah, I would, I'd like to get baptized today. And she said you wanna get baptized today or this Sunday? I can set you up for Sunday. He said well, I'd like to get baptized today. She was like okay, you wanna get baptized today? Well, are you saved? She said, and he kind of explained everything and she wrote it all down. And when I got into the office about nine o'clock she gave me the sheet and she said, hey, you need to call this guy Noah. He wants to get baptized. He said today.
Speaker 1:So I called Noah. I said, hey, noah, what's going on? He said hey, pastor Chip, I'm new to the area. I just moved here a couple of weeks ago. I live about 15 minutes from the church. He said man, I got. Well, could you get baptized this Sunday? We love to do baptisms on Sunday. We'll do it anytime, but we like to do it on Sunday.
Speaker 1:He said well, I'll get baptized on Sunday, but I really feel like God is calling me to do it today. I said Noah, do you know that you're saved? He said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. I believe that he died for my sins. I believe that he rose from the and Savior. I was like, yep, you're saved, you're good to go, man, that's awesome. So you want to get baptized on Sunday? He said I would, but I'd like to get baptized today. I said Noah, why would you like to get baptized today? He said because it's my 25th birthday, pastor Chip, and I just want to give it to the Lord. I said Noah, can you come at 4.30? He said absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Noah came at 4.30. I saw him come walking down the sidewalk. He's a 25-year-old, just young man, strong young man, african-american man. I walked up to him, shook his hand, gave him a big hug Noah, any of your friends and family come with you, pastor Jeff, I don't have any friends in the area yet. My family's not really into it. I said well, noah, we're your friends and family.
Speaker 1:He walked into our CLC. The baptismal was set up. We had about 15 or so of our young adult ministry here, our 18 to 29-year-olds, as they were ready and waiting to welcome Noah into the CLC and our staff was here and everybody walked up to him, shook his hand, everybody was giving him hugs and it was just a very intimate, sweet time together where we got to share his hand. Everybody was giving him hugs and it was just a very intimate, sweet time together where we got to share his testimony and Noah talked a little bit about it and then we got to baptize Noah right then, right there, because God was working in his life. Put your hands together for what God was doing in Noah's life.
Speaker 1:Can I tell you something? When God is working in your church, it's like fish jumping in the boat. Can I get an amen, man? There are just certain things that God is doing that you don't even need to do anything. But that doesn't mean you don't need to do anything. Just because that God is working behind the scenes, just because God is bringing people here, that doesn't mean we don't need to do anything. That means that we have more confidence. We have more confidence, we have more faith, we have more courage to serve God. All the more Can I get an amen? That means, because God is working in people's lives, we go and talk to people, all the more we go to God for people and we go to people for God.
Speaker 1:That's exactly what Jesus did in Noah's life. Hear me. That's exactly what Jesus did in your life. Jesus is the one who came from the Father. He's the one that came to you. He's the one that went back to the Father so that he could save you. He is our great high priest. So here's what we are called to do. As Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. This is what we're called to do. We are the New Testament priest. Look at somebody and tell them you're a priest, now, wasn't loud enough. Look at the person on the other side of you and tell them you're a priest, now check it out. I don't know how much you think about this and I'm going to be real honest with you as an imperfect pastor, I don't think about this a whole lot either. I got a lot of growing room to do, but I want to explain First.
Speaker 1:Peter, chapter two, verse five, says that we go to God for people. Peter said you yourselves are like living stones. We're being built up as a spiritual house, like a temple, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Notice the first step it takes, as a priest, only two steps. The first step is toward God, just as the priest would go into the tabernacle. That is why we go and we get into God's word. That's why we go into the presence of God, that's why we get on our knees in prayer, that's why we seek God and we enjoy God, because the temple veil was torn in two at Jesus' death so that we could go into the Holy of Holies and so that you can experience God for yourself. Because God has called you to be a part of his royal priesthood, his holy priesthood, his holy nation. You don't have to go to a person in order to get God. You've got God through Jesus Christ, his son. So in our life we go to God for our relationship with him, but also so that others can have a relationship with him too. He said that our lives toward God are to be like spiritual sacrifices, but then we go to others for him.
Speaker 1:1 Peter 2, 9 says but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. In other words, as you experience God, as you've been saved by God, as you go into the presence of God, reading the word of God, spending time with God, being forgiven by God, coming to his church and experiencing the worship of God and the people of God, that you get to go to others who do not yet know him and, like a priest who would go into the tabernacle, would come out of the tent where people could not go and go out and tell others, this is what he's like, this is what you'll experience, this is his you. He loves you. He's not against you.
Speaker 1:So my question for me and for you, for us, this morning, is who are you going to God for? Who are you bringing to God in prayer Family members, friends, neighbors, our community, our country, our world? And who are you going to God? Who are you going to for God? Who are you going and telling them about him? Because the Bible says that God has made you to be a priest. I wrote this down. Do you realize who you are? Do you realize who God has called you to be? Do you realize who God has set you apart to be? Do you realize how valuable you are to the kingdom of God? Do you realize how valuable you are to God's church? Do you realize how valuable you are to the kingdom of God? Do you realize how valuable you are to God's church? Do you realize how valuable you are to our lost community? Do you realize the gift that God has put inside you? Do you realize that God has made you to be a priest?
Speaker 1:I'm gonna ask us all to bow our heads and close our eyes. With every head bowed and every eye closed, I just want you just to have just an honest time with the Lord, right here, right now, and just asking him God, would you help me to be the priest that you've called me to be? God, would you help me to go to you for others? God, would you help me to go to others for you? Maybe right now you just need to pray. Maybe you've got one burning name on your heart right now and you just need to beg God.
Speaker 1:God, may I never pray without mentioning them to you. God, may my prayers not be about me. God, may my worship and my life not be all about me. God, may it be about you and be about others. Maybe you're here this morning and this is your day of salvation and God is working on your heart and God is showing you his love and God is calling you to him and today is the day that he is calling you to be his. I can't pray this prayer for you and I can't save you, but I can lead you through this prayer right here, right now.
Speaker 1:You can say something like this from your own heart, your own words, to God. You can say God, I need you and I believe in you, and I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins as my sacrifice. And God, I believe that and I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. And God, I believe that he rose from the dead and that he's alive, and so I turn from my sin and I, you can tell him that I turn and I give my life to Jesus. You can tell him right now, god, I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
Speaker 1:I want to do my leader and my master in Jesus' name and all God's people said can we put our hands together right now for anybody who prayed that prayer, who gave their life to Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1:We're so thankful for all that God is doing, for every single heart that he is speaking to. I just wanna ask us all to stand right now and I just wanna say one last prayer before we worship him together. Let's pray together, heavenly Father, I just pray, lord, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. God, I pray that in this last song, god, that we would lift our hearts, we would lift our voices unto you, god, that we would just be filled with thankfulness. We would be filled with gratefulness that Jesus is our great high priest, that we could be forgiven of all of our sin and that we could, god, go into your presence. We can go to people. Father, I pray that your spirit would just drive that truth deeper and deeper and deeper into our hearts. May we worship you during this final time together this morning. May we give you this time In Jesus' name. Amen, let's worship the Lord.