Untitled Sermon (5)

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Background:

· Moses is on Mt. Sinai receiving instruction. What we read in ch. 35 & 36 is almost word for word what God tells Moses in ch. 34. Its just now in 35&36, Moses is relaying God’s message to the people.

· After this the people sin big time. God almost destroys them.

· God tells them to gather an offering

o Sometimes Godly sorrow can be the best conductor of art. Don’t sleep on lamentations. One day I prayed for passion and got led me to Lamentations.

o Sometimes our gifts and callings come out of godly sorrow for something we feels is missing, something that needs to be created. Something that isn’t happening that we now awakened to that needs to happen, and the flame of passion comes ablaze.

· Then at the beginning of 35 God tells them to rest

Point 1 God anoints us for His work by the power of the Holy Spirit

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· God knows us by name. He calls us specifically for tasks. He knows what and who we are going to be before we’re born.

· That’s why Moses makes it emphatic that God has called Bezalel by name. Not just anyone, not just any artist. Bezalel. It has to be Bezalel

· Bezalel means, The shadow of God, Psalm 91 may come to mind when you hear shadow of God because in Psalm 91 which is believed to written by the same author of Exodus Moses, the author writes, Psalm 91:1 (KJV 1900)1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

· The shadow of God implies that a person is so close to Him, that they are under His shadow. Anybody want to be close to God, the creator of the universe, the author of love, the giver of wisdom, the king of the universe? Shadow means closeness and closeness implies that there are certain benefits that come from being in God shadow, namely, seeing what He does. And when you see enough of what He does, and you follow His steps, and maintain your place in His shadow, you begin to walk with Him, and then walk like Him, you see what He does, and begin to copy what He does, you have no choice but to be Holy because he doesn’t allow anything but holiness in His presence, so you begin to act like Him, being in God’s shadow means you begin to reflect God to the point where you could metaphorically be His shadow. The outline of His figure, the basic points of His character, a simplified representation of His love.

· When you’re in God’s shadow you’re copying Him. And isn’t this just what art is. Isn’t art just copying the creator? For what do we actually create? We only take what has already been created and put it together which other things, we don’t literally create anything. We’re just copying what God does. What He did in creation back in Genesis 1 & 2. There the Spirit of God moved over the surface of the waters and danced over the earth as God sang out His ideas that instantly materialized into light, and matter, and elements.

· This same Holy Spirit filled Bezalel. This is actually the first time we encounter the Holy Spirit filling anyone in the Bible. We call the Holy Spirit empowereing someone for a talk, the anointing. It is a dedication to a specific role by God, it is His supernatural empowering to carry out that role, and it is what we need if we are to do anything for Him.

· God gives every believer the Holy Spirit at the moment we belive in Christ. And when He gives us the Holy Spirit, he empowers us with spiritual gifts.

o 1 Corinthians 12:1-7 12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

o 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. [1]

· We are given these gifts for the work of the kingdom. We are God’s art, his masterpiece, his master work.

o Ephesians 2:8-10 says

§ 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them[2]

o We are saved FOR good works not BY good works.

o God has a work for us all to do on this earth

§ Do you know yours?

Transition

Point 2 God gives us a team to help us complete the work

· 34 And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer. [3] 36 “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman[4]

· When God gives us a work, it is hardly ever to do on our own. God wants others to join in for the work for His glory.

· God also appointed Oholiab to be a co-worker with Bezalel, and v.1 of ch. 36 says “other craftsmen.” God is good enough to not force you to do many things alone. Other people are talented. They can share the load.

· Allow other people to join in the work. Delegate tasks.

· Also be a support. God does just anoint people to be leaders, God anoints people to be support people too!

o Bezelel was the son of Uri, the son of Hur. Hur was one of Moses’ closest officers and support system. When God required Moses’ arms to remain raised the entire battle to give them victory, Moses’ arms got tired and Uri literally was Moses’ support system, but using his own strength to hold up his leader’s hands. That is the greatest thing we know about Bezalel’s family, that their grandfather was a support to Moses. Do you think Bezalel understood the important of being a support for someone? Do you think Bezalel understood that he would need his own support?

§ So when you invite someone to join in the work that God is calling you to do, be excited about inviting them, don’t be insecure or shy or embarrassed to invite them to kingdom work, if it’s from God, he’s anointed them to do this work, and if he’s anointed them to do this work, He may have already spoken to them about it. Start your conversation not trying to imagine how bad it might go, go over there trying to imagine that you might be confirming something to someone who was already thinking the same thing, you might be affirming the gift in someone that they were already discerning they might have. You might be inviting them to one of the greatest seasons of their life.

o God gave the instrucctions to Moses

§ So Bezalel might do the work

· So Oholiab might assist Bezalel

o So the people might serve under Oholiab.

o Don’t miss your blessing in letting God supply you with anointed people to join in the work He’s given you. And don’t be stingy to block those people’s opportunities to be blessed, and be a blessing!

o And don’t miss your blessing being a support for someone else!

Transition: There is always a learning process for the people anointed to do the work of God, sometimes it’s before the calling, sometimes its during the work.

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Point 3 God is meticulously involved in our cultivationprocess. The mind & Heart

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· v. 34 says He has inspired him to teach.

· God through His holy spirit anointed Bezalel and Oholiab to not only know, not only to do, but to teach!

· This is huge! The saying goes, those who can’t do teach. As to say, if you can’t be an engineer, you can just teach engineering, if you can’t play baseball you can be a coach. But people fail to realize that some of the most skilled and talented people are terrible at teaching others how to do it! To be able to teach, to explain, to understand how the human mind learns, the learning process, and to then have the patience to repeat, over and over again, and wait tirelessly as that kid plays twinkle twinkle little star on the violin for the 100th time and it sounds like cats 100 cats are having their tails pulled, taking a SPECIAL kind of anointing!

· Praise God for teachers!

· God is intimately involved in the learning process. Did you notice that God gave Bezalel these commands back on the Mt. and God said He had already anointed Bezalel, that Bezalel already had the skill. Skills don’t happen overnight.

· V. 1 says

· God can do it Matrix style and import the knowledge, but most times the Holy Spirit works in processes. God appointed processes.

o The first time you notice color as a baby and makes you forget to cry that you’re hungry. The first time you pick up a pencil and try to copy your name written by your parents and it comes out right, and your parents begin to notice a special extraordinary gift might be there. The first time you go to art class in school and you just so happen to get a art assignment that catches your attention. When you just so happen to hear about a cartoon that no one else watches but the art of the Japanese anime arrests your artistic inclination, and you begin drawing those characters in your note book. All these are God guided shoulder taps, and nods, and winks, and stones that He places on your patch in the learning process as he anoints you for His masterpeices.

o Don’t you know that anointing oil, that comes from olives is a long process?

§ Growing process: 3-5 years of the tree just growing until its ready to start producing, though 7-10 years until significant numbers are produced.

§ Olive Development: then there’s a maturing process, because immature things can be fruitful nor multiply. 6-8 months to mature the lives from flowering to ripening. The flowers are pretty but and smell great, but they’re not fruit, the fruit comes after

· I think someone hears what I’m talking about

§ Harvesting: depending on the size of the orchard, a couple days to several weeks to for the farmer to pick out the good fruit and dedicate or assign them to the final product, while at the same time casting away all the unnecessary materials and the fruit that can be used.

§ Washing and cleaning: even after the good fruit have been picked they have to still be cleansed and purified. removing dirt, leaves, debris, anything that is not needed to produce to oil that is pure.

§ Crushing:Then the hardest part the crushing, because a suffering is required for the reward to be given, a 30-40 minutes of crushing the olives until all of made into a paste

§ Churning: 20-45 mintues of malaxing or churning to allow small oil droplets to combine into bigger ones

§ Pressing: then the oil extracting happens. The paste is prssed to separate the oil from the water and the exterior materials of the olive for 30 mins to 1 hr

§ Filtration: still an extra filtering has to be done to make sure not one spec of unwanted, unpure, particle makes it into the oi

§ Storing and bottling: Then the last stage is a process of resting and maturation: where the olive oil settles in its final state, in the state that it will continue to be, enhancing its quality and making its taste more appealing to others, ultimately showcasing the expertise of the oil producer or oleologist.

o Isn’t this what God does to us? He is involved in every bit of your process from the moment that you by the spirit said Lord Jesus is Lord, to moment you start producing righteous fruit.

§ That’s why the bible says in Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way.

Point 4 God gives us the heart, motivation, desire, to do the work.

· V. 1 of 36 says Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligenceto know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lordhas commanded.” [5] 2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill[6]

· God gave them the intelligence, the “know how” to do all that He commanded. It’s even impressive that they understood God’s instructions.

o How many of us understand ch 36??? How do you make a curtain twenty-eight cubits? And how do you make it to represent an all knowing and all powerful God to a bunch of uneducated former slaves from Egypt living in a wilderness? How do you make 50 clasps of gold. What is a classssp?

o How do I face the rear of the tabernacle westward and make six frames?

o How do I do all this in accordance with what God commanded?

· It’s so important that we know God’s commands, his promises, His Word in the Bible. You’ve got to know it if you’re going to complete it, and know it in your own mind.

o Part of The greatest commandment is to love the lord with all of mind.

o And God will give us all that we need know to fulfil His purposes for our lives.

o Don’t be discouraged if you don’t know everything at the moment,

§ Prov 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.

§ James 1:5 (ESV): "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

Transition: You ever feel bad sometimes that you just don’t want to do something for God….But God not only gives you the know how, and the can do, but the want to.

· God cultivates the heart.

· 36:2 says And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.[7]

o Make no mistake, as we see earlier in Exodus with God hardening and softening the heart of Pharaoh, God cultivates our hearts.

o He gives us the desire to serve Him. He stirs our hearts to create art. He allows happens in our lives to shape how we think and see the world, the situations and stories in our lives that form the rivers of our hearts that our passions flow through are all all part of His masterpiece.

o God plays on our hearts strings like a harp player to inspire wow us and be in awe of Him and do His will

§ Psalm 45:1 (ESV):"My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe."

Point 5. God gives the provision required to do the work.

Ex 36:3-7

3And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lordhas commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.

· "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Cor 9:7

· Philippians 4:19 (ESV):"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Point 6. God sees the work to completion

Exodus 39:42-43

42According to all that the Lordhad commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. 43 And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lordhad commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.

· If God called you to it, He’ll get you through it. Trust and believe that. Don’t give up don’t lose faith.

· What an amazing testament. Its’ very emphatic they they followed every instruction and completed every tasks. What a great feeling. What great evidence of the anointing.

· Are you doubting that God can give you what you need to complete the work he’s given you to do?

· Psalm 138:8 (ESV) says: “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

· Phil 1: 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Connection to Christ

Application

Inviation to Christ

Prayer