In the Presence of the Lord (transcript)

com. If you remember, my main goal for this series of conversations that we’ve while we’ve been in the book of Leviticus is for you to see the beauty of Leviticus and the incredible links that God goes through to have relationship with us. When we look at the book of Leviticus or if you’re doing the bible in a year, there we get bogged down, we get burned out, it seems repetitive, it seems so so foreign and disconnected from us. But as we spend time in the book of Leviticus, my goal is that you would see how much great stuff there is for us in the book of Leviticus even though it was written to a people thirty five hundred years ago. It was written to them, but it is for us today.

And I’ll I’ll say it one more time. I want you to be able to see the beauty of the book of Leviticus and the incredible lengths that God goes through to have relationship with us. And as they say in the Bible project, the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. That’s right. Week one, just by way of quick review, week one, we saw that Leviticus is a divine blueprint for holiness, showing Israel how to create a sacred environment where God can dwell among his people.

And then we talked about this idea that and this is not on the screen, but that first Yeah. This is not on the screen, but for a life giving relationship with God, something has to die. And if you have not previously thought of that, or if you have a hard time with that, then go back, listen to these other messages, allow yourself to soak into this series and wrestle with it. This is how he set up relationship. The bible says, and we know that God is holy.

He is completely set set apart different from us. There’s a great book by A. W. Tozer and the name of that book is Knowledge of the Whole Is that a title of the book? It’s one of the Oh, okay.

Know Oh, maybe it was you that was reading it. Knowledge of the Holy. Okay. It is so good. It’s so rich and meaty.

Talking about just, like, just straight like mainline doctrine of of the nature and character of God. And so when we get into a relationship with Jesus, When we begin to follow him, when we draw close to him, we realize that in order for there to be relationship with Jesus, something or someone has to die. Like entering into the Thunderdome in that movie, Mad Max. Two men enter, one man leaves. Two men enter, one man leaves.

Week two, we talked about how the God of the Bible is a consuming fire who will never compromise holiness for love. So God, within his own heart, there’s a great dilemma. How can a God, who is described as love, have a relationship with a sinful man without compromising the character attribute of holiness. It is the greatest problem ever thought of ever bumped up against in the history of humankind. Quantum computing?

Easy. General AI? Easy. Interstellar travel? Easy.

How does a holy God embrace a sinful man without compromising his nature and character? So we talked about that week two. Week three, we talked about how the blood brings us closer to God. And I think I have this quote up there. So through this animal and the surrender of its life Okay.

Okay. I’ll just read it to you. So through this animal and the surrender of its life, I through it, get to go into the presence of the Lord. And if you’re like, go back and listen to it. Renee spoke last week, and this week, we’re going to we’re going to look at two we’re gonna take week one to look at one specific sacrifice, and I don’t know if we’ll do it next week or or the week following.

You’ve never had so much fun spending this long in the book of Leviticus, and everybody said, there you go. So we’re gonna look at one of two specific sacrifices in the book of Leviticus. And if you’re taking notes, at the top of your notes, you can write the title of our conversation this morning. In the presence of the Lord. That’s the title of our conversation this morning.

In the presence of the Lord. And I told you to open your bibles to the book of Leviticus. Let’s click on chapter seven. And would somebody please read versus 11 through 17. Jay’s got the mic, and he will voluntell somebody who gets to read.

Oh, did I see Zoey Raizer hand? Jay’s gonna be nice. Thank you, Elisha. This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer to the Lord. If he offers it for thanks for thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Okay. I’ve known Elisha for a long time, so I can say this to Elisha. Don’t read it like you’re reading from a phone book. I can really butter this up if you want me to. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, try again. You can read slow.

This is not a hamburger from Wendy’s. This is, steak from gum barrel. This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings I love it. Which he shall offer to the Lord. There you go.

If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil. Besides the cakes, as his offerings, he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering. It’s great. And from it, he shall offer one cake from each offering as a heave offering to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering, for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day it is offered.

He shall not leave any of it until morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers a sacrifice. But on the next day, the reminder of it also may be eaten. The remainder of it also may be eaten. The remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day must be burned with fire.

Okay. Get it? Yeah. Here we go. I like what, do you know what translation you’re reading from?

New King James. Oh, hardcore. He’s not using the weight rack. He’s just going, like, straight straight free weights. None of this, Nautilus machine stuff like I use in the NLT.

He shall lift a heave offering. Heave. Yeah. Heave. How many of your translations use the word heave?

You guys are hardcore. Of course. Look what is it? Gift. Let’s let’s, let’s find let’s find what verse that is.

You might be off a word or two. The who? Oh, yeah. Yeah. No.

No. That’s a good one. Where does it say what verse did you read he? And let’s 14. Verse 14.

So Kimberly, look So I was just talking about peace offering versus Oh, peace, guilt. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yep.

Yep. Yep. Some of them call it free will offering. Free will. Yeah.

Verse 14, Elisha says heave. Oh. Passion translation? Okay. Oh, okay.

This My gosh. Give me a bible. You, out from underneath the bar. You’re going back to PVC. Oh, I love this church.

Alright. So let’s take a look at that passage that we read. It’s not there’s not a ton there, but I would like to see what observations from the text you can make. What stands out to you? A detail.

Again, you don’t need to dive into, like, some type of deep spiritual significance. Something Something that stands out to me is how specific it is. Day one, this. Day two, this. Day three, this.

No exception. Oh. And the specificity. Very good. What, like, can you point to me where you see that day one, day two?

Oh, it was towards the end. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m picking up what you’re doing.

Seventeen? Yes. Any oh, starting at seventeen. It no. It’s the third hold on.

Sixteen. You gotta eat the whole thing day one. Yeah. Day one, whole thing. Day two, specific day three, burn it.

Like Yes. Just specific. That’s what stood out to me. I love details. Specifics there.

Yes. I love it. We’re gonna come back we’re gonna come back to that. What else do you notice about the text? This is what helps you to engage with the text as you are thinking about details.

Chris Bates. Well, it it mentions yeast. Okay. Which in Exodus, they didn’t use Let’s see that. Where where where where you see that?

In Exodus? No. No. No. In this.

Oh, I’m in the NLT. Uh-huh. In 12/12 or ’13. This is without yeast. 13 is leavened bread.

Leavened bread. There we go. Yeah. Made with yeast. Which is done slowly.

Yeah. In contrast to them getting out to the desert where they spend all that time. I did not see that in verse 13. This peace offering of thanksgiving must be accompanied by loaves of bread made with yeast. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. We got bread with yeast. We got bread without yeast. You gotta not get them confusied. Yes.

What do you see? This is not from me. This is from my Bible has little, like, extra excerpts on the side. Mhmm. Mhmm.

And it brings up the yeast, and it says since the bread with yeast mentioned here was not burned on the altar, the prohibition in Leviticus and Exodus did not apply. I don’t know. Okay. So here’s what here’s what either happens, and we’d need to get really detailed. The loaves of bread that are made with the yeast, they are either, and I think it’s both, heaved, which would we think of, the it’s easiest to think of in terms of, waived, which means it’s presented to the Lord.

And you physically take it and go Like that. And then that that comes back to you. Part of that is given to the priests for their food. Because if you burn the bread, yeast or without yeast, and then give it to the priest, he’s like, I could have burned that on my own. Thanks dude.

So isn’t it interesting that some of the offerings required by the old testament literally require you to show them, present them, wave them to the Lord. Look. The my first, fruits of the grape harvest, My best heads of grain from the fall harvest. Similarly, this is my first born male son to be redeemed on the eighth day and brought into the community of Israel through the covenant, by entering into the covenant through the shedding of blood, through the process of circumcision. This is partly why partly why.

We do baby dedications. Dedicating him to the Lord that we would pray over him. And as a community of people, we would join our faith together that at the earliest age possible, that they would surrender their life to the Lord. But in some ways, also, we’re presenting that baby to the Lord. This is a gift that you have given me.

This is your child and I want to raise this child in fear and admonition of the Lord. That’s a For the Lord is laid on the altar, consumed. I like that. I liked it. I would say all the sacrifices, all the rituals are a way for us to remember what God did.

And that’s why he has us do them, is all because we forget we’re human. We forget everything, and we forget how God works. And how many times does the Bible say, remember this? Do this in remembrance of me. Do this to remember.

It’s because we forget. And and I think it’s easy for us to just go, oh, this is I believe this concept that he’s trying to show. I don’t need to do the ritual. I don’t need to show it physically. I just think it in my mind and believe it.

But I think the rituals do have a place and they have a purpose for us to visually see the concept and how it works and what God’s really doing. I love it. Right? Hand it right back. In reading Leviticus, especially today I’ve had the question When’s the last time you said that in church?

As I’ve been reading through the book of Leviticus, I love it. The question has popped up into my mind this morning. What about I, you know, I don’t know what the distribution of wealth was like among these people, but, like, what about the people who couldn’t offer the requirements for these things, especially in the offership, the offer of, like, fellowship or Thanksgiving. It’s something that’s beautiful and that, you know, everyone may want to do. Like, what what about those people?

Oh, man. Alright. This is fantastic. And we’re gonna get deeper into this, but let me, share with you a provision in the law. The law requires, for example, sin offering that a bull or a calf be slain.

And then the law says, but if you can’t afford a bull or a calf, then a goat or a ram. And then the law says, but if you can’t afford that, then a turtle dove. What did Mary and Joseph bring to the temple when they were presenting Jesus? The New Testament tells us They brought a bull. They brought a ram.

They brought two turtle doves. They brought two turtle doves, playing, telling the educated reader their economic status. So there’s provision in the law for your economic status. And you’re you’re kind of dancing around there. But I’ll so hold on to that question.

We’re gonna answer it more fully. Okay. Look at verse 12. Verse 12. Regardless of how your translation, says this, this is a I might need to sneeze.

This is a free will offering. And expression of thanks giving. This offering is voluntary. Some offerings are mandatory, either yearly. Some offerings are compulsory as the result of sin.

This offering is different and unique. This is what would be known as a free will offering. Out of my own free will. As either the fulfillment of a vow or by way of saying thank you. And we could sit here all day and think of occasions to say thank you to the lord.

Lord, thank you for this job that I applied for and I got it. Wow. Free will offering. Lord, thank you for a freshman year of high school at the community school. Free will offering.

Thank you that I passed my freshman year of high school at the community school. Free will offering. Okay? And with this offering, there are a variety of things that you need to bring to present your offering. Cakes, little candies and goodies, like some some cakes made with yeast, some without, and then a sacrifice of some type.

We see in previous chapters the type of sacrifices look at them in previous chapters of the book of Leviticus. You your wife gives birth to a son. On the eighth day, you redeem him or a daughter. Whatever. You get a baby.

That is a big cause and reason to celebrate. And I hear a little baby. You you bring a bull to sacrifice to the Lord by telling by way of telling him, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Not a weak measly one. Not like a one with like a little critchy hoof and he’s got teeth missing and kind of scraggly patchy hide and all the very best from your herd. You bring it to the Lord. It is, from your heart. You’re It is sacrifice.

So it is killed. The priest takes some of the blood, sprinkles it onto the altar, then you hand him the cape Some some, a very limited portion of that animal is placed on the altar. But there are two very interesting specific conditions for this sacrifice that Amanda was touching on. Look at verse 15 and tell me what is the specific interesting condition. What do you see?

It all has to be eaten. What question comes up in your mind? Yeah. Other than why. Why why is the why will be answered.

Okay. A cow It has to be eaten on that day. What question comes up into your mind? Who eats it? There you go.

Say it out loud, Ella. How am I supposed to eat all that? You can say one more time in the mic. How am I supposed to eat all that? How do I eat an entire cow in one day?

So here’s the question. How do you eat a cow in one day? Ella, say it again. You invite a lot of people to help you eat it. Look at this.

And you get a big belt buckle. Okay. Listen. Listen. Listen.

Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 12 verse seven and eight. We’re getting into the richness of the beauty of this offering in this passage. This is so beautiful. Deuteronomy chapter 12 verse seven and eighteen. It’s up on the screen.

There in the presence of the and your families shall eat and rejoice in everything you have put your hand to. Verse 18. Oh, yeah. Sorry. It’s a space.

You must eat these in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. Eat them. Your sons, your daughters, your male and female, the Levites in your town celebrating in the presence of the Lord your God in all you do. Now, cam, sir, and then And then And then And then And then And then And then And then And then And then And then Can they be captive slaves from other nations? Are those captive slaves from other nations circumcised and Jews by way of the covenant?

No. So the idea is invite your wife, your kids, everybody in the community. Now, how about that for distribution of wealth? You have a baby and I get to reap the rewards from a big old block party barbecue. Everybody gets to enjoy in this particular sacrifice.

We gotta eat it all, you guys. Yeah. But I mean, I wanna nope. Don’t hold back. Feast.

Enjoy. Celebrate. It sounds like such an awesome party and kinda going off, like, what Logan was saying, like, thinking about, like, the kind of offerings you you bring typically reflect your societal status or can show, like, where you’re at. And so I can’t help but whether whether I’m throwing the parties or showing up to the parties, like, I know my flesh is just wanna be, like, oh, like, they’re just trying to look, like, oh, I’m so blessed or whatever. Like, look at me, like, I’m up I’m up here.

Or if I’m throwing them, I I feel like I’d be self conscious of, like, what do people think about me? I’m always, like, throwing these massive parties for the Lord. I guess I just struggle with, like, how do you get around that and and kinda live above reproach to be able to give these free roll offerings and invite everybody into that? We’re gonna read deep, deep, deep into the text using our imaginations, but within the community of the Lord. Would you put up, the the the bottom line, the goodness of God is intended to be shared in the context of community?

The ideal scenario is whether you are having the big whole cow barbecue and you’re throwing it, or you’ve been invited to your nephew’s house who can only roast a goat. The purpose is not the quality or type of meat, celebration within the context of community itself. And if you are a good Jew, like, good barbecue is good barbecue. Right? And if you’re a good Jew, I would like to think that you can throw a big cow barbecue one week, and then attend a goat barbecue the next with the same attitude of celebration.

Here’s the bottom line. The goodness of God is intended to be shared in the community. In the community. Whoever was talking about like working out in isolation, I think maybe you, Renee, It’s in the face of the The command is and and if it’s a big animal, all right, fine, you can have two days. A two day party.

We’re talking sausage links for breakfast. Get that brisket going. Eat it all the next day. And then, very reasonable. I mean, they didn’t have refrigerators.

So on the third day, it’s no good. It must be burned. But think about this, Logan. The command is, it’s all got to be the parable that Jesus tells. The nobles had stuff to do.

The the servant comes back and he goes, they all had excuses. And the king’s like, man, my house will be full for this banquet. Go into the highways, the byways, the the country lanes, the hedgerows, go underneath the bridge, go to the homeless shelters, bring everybody. That’s what Jesus Jesus was thinking about this free will offering. It’s all got to be consumed.

I have two more verses. Psalms one zero seven. This is worth turning to. At least write the address down in in your notes. Psalms one zero seven verse one and two and then verse twenty one and twenty two.

I’m putting them all together. Psalms one zero seven. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His faithful love endures. How long?

Forever. Has the Lord redeemed you? Has God done anything good in your life? Then speak out. Tell others he has He has redeemed you from your enemies.

Let them praise the Lord for his great love. This is in fact, in your notes, you can write Psalms 107 verse one and two in your in your your your your your your your your screen from the top of your lungs in whatever way is appropriate. And your architect, Verse 22. Let them this is the redeemed of the Lord. Offer sacrifices of Thanksgiving and seen joyfully about his glorious acts.

Remember on, Bilbo Baggins’, eleventy fifth birthday or whatever it was, and just before he put the ring on, he’s like, and disappeared. The the part Gandalf was shooting off fireworks, and there were like mugs of ale being sloshed around, and everybody, everybody in the Shire was celebrating. That’s the idea. Then let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts. Can you imagine coming to church and singing loud and worship out of obligation?

That’s why the Lord says what Jacob says. Your sacrifice is like, I want your heart. If you’re doing this out of rote obligation But that’s why. And then when we come together and communicate, we show them the love of the Lord. And then when we come together and communicate, we show them the love of the Lord.

And then when we And then when we come together in community, we actually get to feast. Imagine like like you’re bringing you’re bringing a goat to to church on Sunday. That sounds funny. Imagine you’re bringing a goat that was just sacrificed. Like, look how the Lord has been good to me, and you’re you’re sharing it with people with your voice.

And you’re bringing a ram, and you’re bringing a bull. There’s all this meat and all of this singing within the context of community. They still get to come and feast. Okay. Okay.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends. Jesus. The esteemed guest of honor. And getting to eat with you and celebrating the goodness that he’s the source of.

He loves it. Remember when your kids were little and they were like, mom, I wanna bake with you. And you’re doing like 99% of the work. And then like like they put it in the oven, it comes out, they pull a cookie off the sheet and give it to you, what do you do with that cookie? And how do you emote?

Yeah. Wow, this is the best cookie I’ve ever had. That’s how good of a dad he is. I will share and we will share a meal together. Last verse, Philippians two seventeen.

Paul is But I will rejoice even if I lose my life. Pouring it out like a liquid offering to draw. And I want all of you to share that draw. Here’s the idea. He two men enter.

He lays down his life for you to redeem you. You’ve been set free. You get to live. Out of thanksgiving and thankfulness. What is the only reasonable thing for you to do for him?

Lay down your life for him. That’s why Paul says, Jesus poured out his blood for me on the cross to redeem me from the penalty of sin, which is eternal forever separation from sin. I so get that in the deepness down into the marrow of my bones. The only only reasonable response is for me to take my entire life and pour it out as a thanksgiving, a drink offering to the Lord. He lays down his life for you.

You lay down your life for him. This is the goodness of God. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. We’re so faithful. We’re so faithful, friends.

When we come together in the context of this community, this gathering, I mean, I think that’s why, like, potlucks have been so enduring at church. You know, you’re bringing your chicken dip. You’re bringing beanie weenies in a crock pot. You’re bringing potato salad. Oh, I just got another Hallelujah.

That’s that’s the right reasonable response. Let’s take a moment, and in this this particular moment, let’s express our love and gratitude towards him in just the stillness of our heart. Sometimes we’re open. In this moment, in the stillness of our heart, let’s present to him an Please take these two little turtledoves of my little life. I’ve got no money, I’ve got no fame, I’ve got no pedigree, I’ve got no fancy degree, I’ve got no influence, Now with everybody’s eyes closed and bowed, for how many of you there was something in today’s conversation that just really like pierce you out of the heart.

Would you just slip your hand up? I’m the only one looking around. Okay. Alright. Alright.

Alright. Let’s go. Let the redeemed of the world says. Let the redeemed of the witnesses. Lauren, let me tell you thank you.

Word that is preached and discussed today. Lord, we want we joyfully look forward to another way of express expressing our worship and thank fulness to you by surrendering a portion of our finances. It’s all yours anyway. And so Lord, by way of telling you that we love you and we trust you. We bring our tithes and offerings as a sacrifice to you.

We lay them on your altar, Lord, and we step away. And we tell you thank you. God, I ask that you would receive the offering of people’s tithes and worship, that it would be a pleasing aroma in your nostrils, and that you would use the finances from today’s tithe and or offering to make your name famous here at Tribe, in Jackson Hole, the surrounding region, including Foundation for Nations, and to the uttermost bounds of you. We pray to the saints in Jesus’ name and everybody said, you know how to give here at Tribe. I love your generosity as a Tribe family.

Whether it is a big old gilked up bull or a little turtle dove, the fact that you would bring an offering of your finances is the most important. And some of you come to the altar every week and you’re like, then you just turn around and walk away. There’s nothing to lay on the altar. At least some on the altar, abandon the mentality of, well, once I’m in once fill in the blank happens, then I’ll be in a position to give. Abandon that.

The provision in the law allows for a turtle dove. Everybody has a turtle dove to be able to give. How do you get that turtle dove? Well, you jam him in a little box right there, where you can jam him in that box right outside of the TMC. You can electronically jam him in your phone by sending a text to 84321.

You can also go on our website tribejh.com to give. But Lord bless your financial dividend today. Okay? Announcements are come back next week because I’ve already gone over time. There will be prayer in the VIP room today if you need it back there.

If you don’t need prayer, you can like just do it this way. Lanisha will be in the prayer room. If there’s anything that you need prayer for, Lanisha and her team would love to agree with you in prayer. You can also take advantage of that, prayer card right there on your seat. You can fill it out, and it can be a wave like thanksgiving offering or a need that you may have, and, wave it right into that little box there.

It is truly a delight for our, staff team to take these prayer cards seriously. On Monday, we pray for them and lift them up. Would that be alright if I prayed for you this week? Stand up. We would so be on time if you didn’t make me preach two messages today.

I forgive you. Give you. Lord Jesus, I command a blessing over each and every person here. Find somebody next to you and put a hand on their shoulder, like we’re all family. There we go.

Lord, we just enter into the physical community right now. And I just ask that you would bless the person to our left, bless the person to our right, Lord. I command a blessing, your blessing over their life. Give us a great week and keep it and, Lord, just keep dangling spring over over our heads because we know that it’s coming. We love you too, Jesus.

We pray these things in Jesus’ name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you so very much. Have a great week. And remember,