Levi, Leviticus, and Us ｜ Justin Tribe 2025-03-24 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Lord Jesus, we just give you this time, and we thank you that we can come together like this and worship you. That we Higher goal of coming together and gathering is to lift your name up, to worship you, and to encourage each other. So this morning, we encourage ourselves in this united worship together of the one true God that we serve. The king of kings, the lord of lords, who's worthy, worthy, worthy of this time this morning. We pray you'd be with our tribe fam that's out sick today or healing or recovering, maybe watching from far away today. We just say, let your presence come in whichever space we're at today. Both physically and mentally, emotionally, we just allow your presence to come and change us today. In Jesus name, remind ourselves of who you are this morning. Amen. Maybe just with your eyes closed before we even sing a note, take a minute and just exhale from all even just the things this morning. Just remind yourself why you're here today. That your spirit drew you that he's calling in today. Fix our eyes on you. Sing the truth of who he is. Just think about these words. Of Jesus. We just take a minute and we just declare what a powerful name that we cry out in today. That even death could not hold you. We don't ever want these to just be words to a song. But that you are the true and risen savior. It's why we can come freely before the throne of God today. Thank you for your holy spirit. Lord, we know that everything that we need is available in you, in your name. So we just speak your name today over anything that we could be going through today. We just speak the name of Jesus for our healing, for our families, for our health, for our anxiety, for whatever darkness has tried to come into our lives. Keep us down. Lord, we just declare right now the power that is available in the risen Jesus over all of those things. We just speak the name, the mighty name of Jesus. And when we do that, with that comes authority and power. So we come expectant today as we sing this, that we speak the name of Jesus over our families and over our health and over our finances and over our bodies. Lord, that you're gonna break off bondages. I just wanna speak the name of Jesus Let's sing that again. Your name is power. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Come on, see that. Your name is light. We declare it in this place today. We're gonna sing this again but what I wanna do is maybe as you're singing that, you know that there's a stronghold that you're praying through right now. And you know when Jesus would show up on the scene, he didn't hand people a book of, you know, steps that they needed to take in order to get free. He just said, in the name of Jesus, be free. He would just speak it because of all the power that he had and his presence is here today. So as we sing this again, I just want you if there's something that you need broken off of you and you're just struggling this morning, You don't even you don't have to say what it is, but if you would raise your hand and the people around you are just gonna put a hand on you and they're just gonna pray in the spirit and pray in agreement for that bondage to be broken. Sometimes we need help. Right? It's why we gather. So as we sing this, just be bold, be brave. If there's something that as you're singing that, you just don't feel light coming on you. Maybe you just need a little help today. So as we sing this, just be brave, raise your hand. People around you, place a hand, just pray in the spirit, pray for them. Let's sing it together. Burn like a fire. We believe in your name today, the power in your name. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Make me whatever you want me to be because, God, I came here with nothing. Oh, you have given Jesus bring me wine out of me just thank him this morning for the pressing thank him for the refining this morning It's where he can bring newness, new wine today. Just thank him for every season. God I came here with nothing you have given me Jesus bring you wine That's our prayer this morning. In the crushing. And in the crushing, in the present, you are making new wine. We believe it. Out of me. Jesus, Jesus, bring new wine out of me. I was just thinking about, like, why do we ask Lord, the Lord for crushing? Why do we ask him for the pressing and new wine? And the right before we sing this bridge, it's because when there's pressing and crushing, a new thing can be made, something that wasn't there before. So if you feel stuck, if you feel stuck and you need something new, a new touch, a new revelation, a new breakthrough, that's why we ask for this, not because we want to bring on and ask for hard times. That's not why we ask for it. We ask for God to refine us through the things of this world because where there is new wine, there's new power. There's a deeper depth, a deeper depth of intimacy in him. So that's what we long for. Not just the pressing, not just the crushing, but for what's on the other side of The new one. So let's sing this and just believe today for this. Then on the other side, if you press in, that's our part. We have to lean on him. We have to trust him that where there is new one, there's new power. We believe it today. I I laid down my old flames. Those are good things. Those are things that the Lord has done in our life. But we're not holding on to just those. We're asking for new. Not holding on to the flames of yesterday, but new. Lord, what do you have for me today? What do you have new for me today? What breakthrough today? Not yesterday. We thank you for it. But what do you have for me today? You hear our prayer, you hear our cry this morning. Right now we just thank you in advance for all that you're doing, all that you're gonna do, and all that you continue to do in our lives. Thank you that you never forsake us and you never abandon us even when we walk away from you. So today we just say, we surrender to you again today. I'm just reminded of the scripture that says, Jesus says, behold I stand at the door and knock. He's knocking. He's knocking and it's not a one time knock. It's a constant knocking on whatever area it is today that you need to surrender. What door today could he be knocking on? Maybe there's an area of your life that you've just kinda kept that door closed and today the Lord wants to deal with it. And obviously, we keep doors closed because behind the door might be, the enemy might heap shame. For the enemy might heap all kinds of things. It's not fun to open the door. We just fling them wide open. You could have it all, Lord, all the good things. So right now, I just pray for courage today. I pray for courage in this room to be real before the one who loves you. The one who loves you unconditionally. The one who loved you so much that he laid down his life for you before you even chose him. Think about that. Lord, have your way in this place today as Justin comes today to bring the word. Lord, we ask that you would speak in a mighty powerful way through him today. Thank you for his testimony. Thank you for how you have refined him. Lord, thank you that you have us all on a journey and all we have to know is to stay close to you. We don't have to have it all figured out. We give you all the praise and all the glory in here today. I thank you for every single person crammed in this room today sweating like maybe I am. We give you all the glory. Come, change us today. Let us leave here changed because we met with you. In Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen. There's some goodies back there. You can make your way back there. Say hi to someone if they're Well, good morning everybody. Welcome. Welcome. Find your seats. Say bye to your friends. Thanks for coming this morning. Alright. Hey, Matt. Hey, Matt. Hey, Renee. Good morning, guys. My name is Justin and my wife Carla and I had the pleasure of coming to Tribe for the last three years or so before we just moved over to Victor in November. So this place is near and dear to my heart. Something that I really appreciate about Tribe is that when you walk in the doors, it becomes very clear that, Tribe is not, building, it's not dependent on whoever's bringing the word on a given Sunday. It's not dependent on how awesome the worship is. Although this morning, you guys absolutely killed it. Thank you, Lyssa. Thank you, Lac clan. But this this church is a body of believers, and I'm really, really thankful to be back in the body this morning with you guys. And that being said, I love I love being back here at the TMC. It's awesome to be back here. Shout for the tonight. Yeah. Shout out to the TMC. When Carla and I first showed up in Jackson, tribe was the first church that we came to. This was fall of twenty twenty one. We walked through the doors. I was wearing a mask. Carla was not. And, I that just shows you, you know, my heart is to be a rule follower. Anyway, yeah, this this building, this room specifically really lends itself to this being a conversation and a discussion. So I'm gonna rely on you guys to raise your hands, ask questions, make connections, especially in the latter section of this conversation. There's just a lot of connections that can be made and I am pretty confident that you guys are gonna be thinking of them. So Yeah. So if you guys want to take notes, you can title this conversation Levi, Leviticus, Levite, and Us. Yep. And throughout this this series that y'all have been going through, we've been talking about the incredible lengths that God goes to to have relationship with us. So just by way of a recap, both for my own thoroughness and and for anybody who hasn't been here during this series, this is actually week six in a series that you guys have been going through on the book of Leviticus. And let's just run through each week real quick. And if you guys have any takeaways, shout them out. But week one, Brian talked about how Leviticus is a divine blueprint for holiness, showing Israel how to create a sacred environment where God could dwell with his people. And so my question to you, just as a way of getting this back in our brains is why did there need to be a blue a blueprint or what is the cause of this division between Israel and God? Kat's got a mic that lets the people on the livestream hear us, so just raise your hand and she can get that to you. Yeah. Go ahead, Joy. Because God is completely holy, and so he can't have relationship outside of that. And so there needs to be a blueprint to be able to get us back to him. Totally. Awesome. Great. Anybody else? Sweet. Yeah. I I totally think she did too. Great. So week one. Yeah. Just talking about we as humans are not holy. And thus, in order to enter the presence of a loving holy God, there needed to be some sort of intermediary. In week two, Brian showed us that God is a consuming fire who will never compromise his holiness for love. And what is the demonstration of this holiness and also of this love that you guys talked about. K. I'll kinda jog your memory here. So we're talking about, I think it was Leviticus eight and two of Aaron's sons who were priests, tried to go around the blueprint that God had set up and author their own off offer their own incense sacrifice, even though Aaron the high priest was the only one that was allowed to. And God when they enter the tabernacle, God sends fire down and destroys them. Just to illustrate, his profound holiness and the inability that they have to come on their own accord to him. K. Week three, Brian talked about the importance of blood and said that the blood brings us closer to God. How does the blood bridge the gap between Israel's sin and God's holiness? I'll give you guys a second. Yeah, Amanda. So there is annual sacrifices from spotless animals, but when Jesus came, this is the beauty of the gospel and the beauty of the cross, he became our one and done one and done for all time sacrifice with his perfect precious blood, and that bridged the gap between sin and god's holiness for all of time because it was the perfect sacrifice and never needed to be done in the same way again. That's awesome. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So that's getting getting more into the New Testament, and we're gonna talk a little bit more about that today. But, yeah, for Israel, they they would offer blameless animals and sacrifice their their lives and sprinkle their blood as purification for their own sin to allow them to enter into the presence of God and to have atonement. Awesome. Thanks, Amanda. So week four, we had an awesome awesome So here's here's the background. I went through and listened to this whole series that you guys have been on. So I I've gotten to refresh myself. But week four, we had Renee bring the word. She preached an awesome message full of connections in the old and new testament. Had many cool things to point out. I recommend going back and listening to that. But the way that she summed it up was saying that we each enter an arena with God. And, Brian had been using this, analogy of the thunder dome. Two men enter, one man one man leaves. When we enter the arena with God, will we choose to fight against him or submit? I've got a great picture here of a of a sleeper hold. Will you submit to the sleeper hold or not? What does submission to God look like in this Thunderdome example we've been using? Death. Yeah. Death to what? Death to our flesh. Awesome. A will. Nice job. Yep. Now we're thinking. Now we're thinking. Awesome. Anything else? Great. Yeah. That's a good that's a good summary. Yeah. There's this harkens back to the last time that I had the privilege of of preaching. I preached a message on there being no mercy on sin and how we need to allow God to crucify our flesh, put on the spirit. Awesome. Finally, last week, which was week five, Brian titled his message, In the Presence of the Lord. And talked a lot about peace offering, also known as the fellowship offering. And talked about how the Israel Testimony was part of it. Testimony? Yeah. Yep. Exactly. Taking what the Lord has done in your own life and sharing it with others so that your testimony can encourage them. Yeah. What else? You guys can do shout out if you want. Serving him. Yeah. Absolutely. Following the 10 commandments. Following the 10 commandments. Yep. Yeah. It's a good one. 10 commandments serve as a way for us to live in community in a way that is gonna be honoring to one another and honoring to God. Yeah. That's awesome. Great. So that's where that's where y'all have been. Y'all have covered a ton of ground and I hope you know that it's incredible how long you have been in what most people would consider one of the more challenging books to to read and to study. It's it can be difficult to read Leviticus and come away with actionable content for your own life and also with a a full understanding of who God is and and how much he loves you. Today, we're gonna go through a little bit more history, a little bit of recap, and some looking forward from Leviticus into the New Testament. We're gonna trace God's redeeming hand all the way from the sons of Jacob to God's own son, Jesus, and finally, into our own lives. So we're gonna start with Levi, who is one of the 12 sons of Jacob. Levi was the third born of Jacob and his first wife, Leah. You'll remember that Jacob ended up having kids with two wives the third son with Leah. We don't get a ton of background on him, but we know that his name his name meant attached. And Leah says there in Genesis, now my husband will be attached to me because I have born him three sons. You'll remember that Leah was not Jacob's first choice. He really wanted to marry her sister, Rachel, but her father that their father kind of tricked him into marrying Leah first and then he was able to marry Rachel. So Leah starts off as as kind of the underdog and the one who she feels overlooked and undesired. So she hopes that this son, especially this third son will garner some love from her husband. Levi and his brother Simeon do not get off to a good start. And the first kind of big story we have about Levi is that he and his brother Simeon take some bloody revenge on a neighboring clan after they mistreat their sister. They end up killing all of the males in this particular clan and, they they see it as, you know, righteous revenge. But Jacob later on in his life, their father, says that he's displeased with that and talks about how Levi and Simeon are brothers of of wrath and brothers of murder. Jacob prophesies that Levi will be divided up and scattered amongst his brothers because of his anger and wrath expressed through murder. One of the famous descendants of Levi, of course, is Moses, his brother Aaron, and their sister Miriam. And we see that same violence, displayed in Moses' life. Moses in Exodus two sees an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite slave, and he murders that Egyptian, buries him in the sand, and thinks that he's gotten away. But when he's found out, he flees, runs off into the desert, and spends forty years there wandering around as a shepherd in hiding. Later on, after the exodus, Moses goes up on Mount Sinai to receive the law from God. God meets with him there. Moses gets this huge download of, commandments and laws and, God's desires for his people. And Moses is coming down the mountain ready to share what he's learned from God with his his nation, Israel. And what does he find when he shows up? What have they done? Yeah. They've they've melted down all of this gold that they took from from Egypt, and they've made a golden calf. And if there's one thing that God really, really hates, it's idolatry. It's when people put something in his place. And it's it's incredible just the how quickly Israel turns from their savior, from the one who brought them out of slavery in Egypt. So Moses is rightfully upset, and he cries out to the congregation, is anyone on the Lord's side? And who steps up but the sons of Levi? And they upon Moses' instruction, they go out into the nation of Israel and they end up killing about 3,000 people. And, you know, this is this is bloody bloody justice. And it's a little hard to wrap our minds around how that could be, you know, God's desire for us. And I don't know that I even really have an answer to that, but Moses commends the sons of Levi for turning from this idol and exacting God's justice on the nation. And he says that that day, they have been consecrated for the Lord's service. Later in Numbers, God tells Moses to tally up all of the firstborn sons of Israel and then all of the Levite men. And you'll remember in Exodus that God kills all of the firstborn sons and livestock of the Egyptians, but he spares the firstborn sons and livestock of the Israelites through Passover? Lot of killing. Yeah. It's a lot of killing. And I'm glad you guys are have been getting coached up on on being okay with some some killing and some blood. But at this time, God says, okay, he he has he has spared all of the firstborn of Israel and set them apart for himself. And here in Numbers, we see that God says, okay, all of the firstborn of Israel are mine. And so he he counts. He has Moses count them up, and there's around 27,000 of them. And then he has Moses count up all of the Levite men. And there's about the same number of Levite men. And so God says that, on that day that I struck down the firstborn of Israel, I consecrated for my own all of the firstborn of Israel. You shall take the Levites for me and their cattle for me instead of the firstborn from among the people of Israel and their cattle. So he sets the Levites apart for his own service, and they are the redemption price for all of the firstborn of Israel, which is really cool. So what do the Levites end up doing for the Lord now that they are ordained for his service? They protect the tabernacle and the priesthood. They carry all of the holy things. God puts in place this blueprint for the tabernacle. And when the nation of Israel would move from place to place, the tabernacle had to move too. And so the Levites were the guys that would pick everything up and move it to the next place and set it down where the Lord asked them to. And they'd set the tabernacle back up so that all of the offerings and sacrifices could continue. And they also speak instruction to the people. And you see this especially after Israel comes into the land of Canaan and their their all the tribes have their allotment. The Levites, just like Jacob had prophesied, get spread out into each of the tribes. Tribes. And so you've got Levites in Judah. You've got Levites in Gad. You've got Levites in all of the 12 tribes mixed in there. And Levites in their respective cities and towns would be the ones that would be speaking the law to the people. And they were the ones that would share instruction from the Lord. And I think I would guess that it's less so, like what we see today where they're kinda coming up with messages from the Lord, but they're more just keeping in people's minds the law that Moses had passed down. And then oh, let's see. Yeah. And then in Malachi here, we see an illustration of that. God is speaking about the Levite the sons of Levi. And he says, my covenant with him was one of life and peace. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in in his mouth and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness and he turned many away from iniquity. You see that that teaching, the Levites were the ones that were supposed to be walking the most closely with the Lord. And then of course, one specific family in the tribe of Levi, were the sons of Aaron and they were the priests. So all of the sacrifices that we've been talking about the last couple weeks are done by the sons of Aaron. And you guys have talked a lot about what their duties were and how they used the blood of these animals to make space for Israel to be able to access the Lord. So you have the larger tribe of Levites and a smaller group from the line of Aaron as priests. And I'm sure after all this time studying the blueprint for holiness that is Leviticus, you must be thinking, this is a great system. It must have run Super smooth. Yeah. Super smoothly and never gone off the rails. Right? Wrong. Yeah. There's just like a couple. Yep. Just a couple house rules. But unfortunately, that's not true. It didn't go smoothly. We can go to the next slide. What went wrong? As time goes on, we see that the priests forsake their responsibilities. There were polluted offerings like the ones spoken of in Malachi and first Samuel with the sons of Eli. You'll remember the sons of Eli would take advantage of the people and they were supposed to, there was one particular offering that was was boiled in a big vat and the priests were supposed to, like, stick this big fork in there and whatever they forked out was their portion to to eat them and their family. And the the sons of Eli do this weird thing where they they're like, okay. Yeah. Offer the sacrifice and then we're gonna just take the whole animal out of there and that'll be ours. And yeah. So it's not good. They're they're they're like free wheeling, doing their own thing, making all these what do you call it? Compromises. Compromising the law of the Lord. And there was corruption of the message of the law. They speak instruction causes people to stumble. They show partiality in their temple service. Malachi one and two are an indictment against both the priesthood and the overarching Levitical service. And you think of when Malachi was written, this was after the tribes have come into Canaan, after they've asked for a king and they've gotten a a a kingdom, after the the north and South nation have split, after they've both been taken into captivity, and after they've returned from that captivity back to the nation of Israel, back to Jerusalem, they've reinstated the temple. They've re the temple. They've reinstated the sacrifices. And even by then, the the priesthood is compromised. And it's impure and it's messy and muddy and, yeah. You can read all about that in in Malachi one and two. But there is a solution, which is really cool. Let's turn to Malachi three one through four. And could I have somebody read that, please? Raise your hand when you got it Awesome. K. You ready? Yeah. Go for it, Renee. K. I'll send my messenger who will prepare the way before Lord you are seeking will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come, says the Lord almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings and righteousness. And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord. As in days gone by, as in former years. Thanks, Renee. Yeah. That's awesome. New international version. Yeah. So there's some some really cool hopeful things happening here. Malachi has given this indictment against the priesthood, but now he's also offering prophecy of what will come. Like many of the prophecies we see in the Old Testament, there's there's multiple layers. There's multiple timelines kind of all happening at once. But God says through Malachi, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. That messenger will come to find out is John the Baptist who prepares a way for the lord of hosts, prepares the way for the son of god, the messiah of Israel. And it says, who can endure the day of his coming? I I think that might be speaking more to Christ's second coming because we see that language in in other Old Testament prophecies too. Who can stand when he appears? He is like a refiner's fire and a launderer's soap. There's a it's kind of cool it's kind of cool that this passage speaks of Jesus as both the refining fire and as the person doing the refining. Refining. So you think of like a a kiln that's refining gold. He's both the, like, molten magma and and the person sitting there, like, stirring the pot, like, getting all of the the dross out. There's this, like, 100 or so year old devotional, I guess you'd call it, that talks about how when somebody was refining silver or gold, they would heat it up to the point that it was, you know, it's molten and they'd scrape off all of the impurities that would rise to the top. And they would know that they were done when it was so shiny that they could see their reflection in it. And I tried to do some research to see if that was actually the case and I don't think that it's actually super accurate when it comes to metallurgy, but it it gives a really cool picture of Christ sitting there and refining the the sons of Levi, but then kind of by extension us, he refines us until he starts to see himself reflected in us. And I I think it's a really powerful metaphor even though it might not be exactly perfect. Like yeah. It's like I really want that to be the like, yeah, the case. But yeah. So we can see a bunch of really cool hopeful things happening for the sons of Levi in the future. We can go to the next slide. So we've talked about why they need to be purified and I think looking at this passage from my own perspective, it's not hard to for me to acknowledge that this was not just something for the tribe of Levi in the past. This is this impurity and this messiness is true of all of humanity since the fall. And true in my own heart, I need to be purified, I need to be refined. And there's there's so many ways that I'm similar to these guys. But luckily, we have this great high priest. And I wish that we could sit here and read the whole book of Hebrews together because just speaks to all of the ways that Jesus is a better priest than those that came before. But we'll read some of those now. So, if somebody would turn to Hebrews four, we'll read 14 through 16. We know that Jesus came to Earth. He actually came here to where we are. He lived a sinless life and thus was qualified to be a perfect sacrifice for us. And this is what Amanda was talking about earlier. Jesus is, in this case, he's the priest. He's the sacrifice. He's the blood. He's like it's like a one man show. He's all of the things that we need, which is absolutely amazing. So somebody's got that Hebrews four verse. Go ahead and raise your hand. Jay's got it. Hebrews four fourteen through 16. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. Let us hold fast to our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Jay, can you tell us why that's important? I think it just speaks to how he's, like, a 100% man and a 100% god. Like like, you're talking about the one man band. Right? Like, he, like, he gets us. Like yeah. Nice. I like that. Yeah. Absolutely. Jesus was familiar with the human experience. He's not in some far off place asking things of us that he wouldn't do himself and that he didn't do himself. Listen I was just gonna say what you're touching on is so important for us to hold so close all the time that he is everything. He's all in one. Because I think just like the golden calf, like, leading up and through Leviticus, that is our human nature is to add things, to, like, make other ways that are easier or not even easier. Sometimes we even make it harder. Like, but we want tangible things that we can do rather than just find everything in Jesus. And I think to me, I'm just, like, having this connection. Like, for us as believers now, Leviticus is a great example of that. Like, that is human nature. Like, they were humans just like us, you know, and they walked with the lord. They saw him in the pillar of fire in the cloud by day, and and then he's Moses leaves for, like, a minute, and they make an idol. And we we laugh because we think about a golden calf. They built a golden calf. Like, we do that. We literally do that with our phones or with I mean, seeing ourselves in Leviticus and then reminding ourselves that everything he is all in one, that's just, like, really resonating with me. Like, he's everything. The one man band, Jesus. Yeah. Make a t shirt. Yeah. Press Oh, press it. Corey. Yeah. So important to remember. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and there is there is no way to the father except through Jesus, which is hard to yeah. We do we do try our best to find any other way except through Jesus. Okay. Let's go to this next verse, Hebrews nine eleven through 14. Who's got it? So Christ has now become the high priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered the greater, more perfect tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of the created world. With his own blood, not the blood of goats and calves, he entered the most holy place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciousness from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God for the power of the eternal spirit. Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That's awesome. Thanks, Chris. Yep. If you guys want a great song that goes with exactly what Justin's talking about, it's called Better Wine, and it's a you'll just search it better wine. It's Say everything you ever say. Nice. That's sweet. Maybe you could play it at the end. Since nobody knows it, sure. Just make it up? Yeah. That's awesome. Okay. Could somebody turn to second Corinthians three seven through 11? Yeah. So just like Chris read, yeah, Jesus was the the high priest. He was the blood. And it's not saying that the old blood was ineffective. Like, it does say that the sprinkling of blood on defiled people would sanctify them and purify their flesh. But we're supposed to see how much more so will the blood of Christ purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? That's how my translation says it. That those dead works is just like what Lissa was just saying. Things that we try to do to serve God or to access God that are just bonkers and not, not receiving and taking in what Jesus has already done. Who's got that? Second Corinthians. Go ahead, Lucas. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone came with glory so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of his glory. Fading though it was, will not the the ministry of the spirit be even more glorious. If the ministry that condemns men as glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts? Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Just speaking I mean, that we use the word glory and glorious, like, probably as much as we use the word love. Like, oh, love that hamburger. Like, oh, this I don't know. These tacos were glorious, but just really hungry right now. Carla, you look glorious. You look glorious. But that's actually closer to the to the truth that that glory is like a it's like a radiance, like a resplendence. And Moses, after he would go see God, his face would be like shining like a thousand watt light bulb and so much so that he had to veil his face in front of the Israelites. And it talks about, yeah, just how how he would keep that veil on even when his face was no longer shining. But the new covenant is even more glorious than the first, which, yeah, is really clear to see when you look at the life of Jesus. K. Let's go to first Peter two four through five and then verse nine because it doesn't stop with Jesus. Jesus tore the veil of separation between us and God when he sacrificed himself on the cross. He nobody took his life from him. He laid it down, which is important. Yeah. In doing so, he offered a way for us to have access to God and to be able to approach him so that there's no longer separation. Go ahead, Phil. Okay. This is four through five and then nine? Yep. K. First Peter, as you come to him, the living stone, first rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are now being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And then verse nine, it says that you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, so that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of out of darkness and into his wonderful light. That's awesome. Yeah. We are called a holy priesthood. There's a phrase called the the priesthood of all believers. Has anybody heard that before? Mhmm. It was kind of coined around the reformation in opposition to the idea that only Catholic priests could minister to people, could speak scripture, could read scripture, and yeah. Hinges on this verse that God has set us apart in Christ to be a holy priesthood. What do you guys think that that entails? If we are a holy priesthood, how what does that look like in our lives? If we are if if through Christ, are now priests, what should that look like? Or how what is the connection between what the priest and the Levites did in the Old Testament to what we are called to do now? I I think we're set apart for service. Just like the Levites, you know, Moses chose them, and then they had the list the list that you had up there. But we, here in the New Testament on this side of the cross, yeah, we're set apart, holy, different. Can't just be flippant in how we live, but be very intentional and conscient conscious and aware of what the Lord is asking. And our response out of love is obedience. So we do look different than the world. We should. We don't always. We should look different. We should be set apart. I think we run into the same trap that they probably did in the Old Testament with the old covenant where they're like, oh, like the priests or, like, yeah, the Catholic priests, like, they, like, they do all the, like, religious stuff, and then I just kinda show up. And but what the New Testament calls us to is to be a priest in all areas of our life. It doesn't matter what you do for work or how you get your paycheck. You're called to be a priest in the space that that you're in, whether you're working out of the village or you're running your own business. You are called to serve exactly what Amanda said. What does that look like, Jay? Can you give a couple examples? Yeah. Me, like, me personally, like, I'm really I have with somebody, then I'm missing the for me. And so because there's so many people, especially in this town, that are are lost and need Jesus like we all do. And so for me, what it looks like to be a priest in my everyday is like seeing people that are that God points out to me, like, from filling up the gas that I need to have a conversation with. Or when I'm on the bus and I'm really tired and I just wanna take a nap and somebody sits next to me and the Lord tells me that I gotta love on them and hear their story. Little things like that where I need to die to myself and choose to serve in honor of the Lord. Yeah. Just go ahead. I was thinking about what you had on the slides earlier where one of the roles of the Levites in the Old Testament was to carry the holy things. And I think about our designation by Jesus as carrying the Holy Spirit and bringing his presence into the world, that it was better for him to leave than to come. And and how wild like what Liz was saying earlier, the the Jews walked with the Lord with his fire and the cloud recovered them that even Jesus said after he was physically here on earth, it was even better for him to leave and send the holy spirit to live in us. Yeah. That's pretty good. I thought when that when you put that up there, what did it look like to be a Levite priest and it said they carried a lot. I mean, the reality is once you know the truth, it is like what Jason, like, it's not a burden. It but it is a there's a weightiness to once you know the truth. Like, you now have something that the world needs. And so, like, it is a responsibility Mhmm. Of carrying the testimony of the gospel. Like, it's why he chooses to use us. Like, we are now his shares of the gospel. So once you become a priest, then you have a responsibility to carry the gospel to people. And I think it what dawned on me was it doesn't always look like, oh, what does it look like once you get to be this, like, honored priest? It doesn't look like sitting on the throne. It looks like doing the heavy lifting in prayer and all the things. That's super good. Mhmm. Like that. We can go to the next slide. Sweet. So you guys named a bunch of these things already. As priests, we provide access to God to those who are far off. That's kind of what what Jay was saying. Like, we are the way that people are going to encounter Jesus in their day to day life through what we're doing in our day to day life. Jobs, family, going to get groceries, pumping gas. And our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, not just a holding area for us to be like, oh, yep. We got the Holy Spirit. But it's a place for people to come and encounter God. And yeah. Just like the Levites, we're we are to instruct one another. We're To speak scripture over one another's lives. And we offer sacrifices. Renee talked about the incense of prayer infused with the oil of the holy spirit. I love that. That was I'd never, like, pictured it that way, but the incense of prayer infused with the oil of the holy Spirit. This idea that our our prayers, through the Holy Spirit are a pleasing offering to God. He loves to to smell them and to, hear our prayers. And our bodies, we offer them as a living sacrifice. We see that in in Romans 11 into 12. And we offer sacrifices of righteousness just like it was saying in Malachi three. Right? Offerings that are not selfish, are not corrupted, but are are built on right standing with God. And then we be behold as priests, we behold the glory of the Lord. Let's go back to second Corinthians, three, and let's read verses 12 through 18. And I'll just I'll just read it. We were we just had said, for if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much how much more will what is permanent have glory? Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end, but their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes. To this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is a spirit. The Lord is the spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Here's the the profound peace. Says, and we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. As we behold Jesus, we become more like him. Just like that image of the refiner, looking into the gold or the silver and seeing his reflection. As we look to Jesus, we want to embody him and we want to become more like him. And it says that we are being transformed by beholding the glory of the Lord. And we in turn are being transformed from one degree of glory to another, which is so so cool. Hebrews twelve one and two, which we actually already read this morning, talks about how we we look to Jesus. Here, I'll actually just read it. Oops. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. We look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. We can go to the next slide. Priesthood since its inception has been serious business. God's grace for us is so powerful and unending, but we still need to know that what he is inviting us into is eternal work, and he wants to see it prosper. We cannot do it in our own strength. This last verse shows us how to walk rightly in our priesthood. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus. We need to behold him, watch him, seek him. This means being willing to lay down things that shield us from the full brunt of his gaze. Just that imagery of lifting up a veil. I don't know if you've ever been woken up in the middle of the night, by somebody turning the lights on. But when the lights first come on, it's like blinding and painful and so difficult, and it feels like the darkness was so much better. But taking taking that veil off of our hearts can be really painful. Whether that's, sin or shame or just wrong belief about about God or about yourself. All of those things can function as veils to keep us from seeing the full glory of the Lord and taking that veil off can be painful. It's painful, disorienting, and the darkness feels more comfortable. But as you step into the light, bear with the brightness for a bit. And as you are being renewed, you will begin to see Jesus more and more. So I just invite you right now to reflect on where you are at. Reflect on oh, you can go back to that last one actually. Great. Just the the different people that we've seen in this story. You've got Levi plagued by family history, things that have happened to the past, feeling doomed to repeat the past. You got the Levites carrying the tabernacle and the holy things, but maybe it feels like a job to be doing those things. Going through the motions, doing the right things, but your service is not focused on God. Or maybe you feel stuck in something that looks like the Levitical law, doing what you have always done to connect with God, doing what you see everyone else is doing, but it doesn't feel personal. Feel locked into the going through the motions and the the commandments and do this, don't do that. But it's not bringing you closer to the Lord. Or maybe you feel like you're that precious metal that's full of impurities and need refining, purifying. Just invite everybody to close your eyes and let the Lord speak. Ask him where you're at. Ask him what he desires of you. Ask him a question. Listen for an answer. His voice is distinct and unmistakable. Allow him to remove any veils in your heart. Allow him to show you what might need to go on the altar this morning. Know that the incense of your prayer is a pleasing aroma to him. He is all you need. As we stay in this attitude of worship just a few minutes longer, every time we come together as a tribe family, we bring our tithe which is a portion of our finances and we put it into our local church whether it's tribe or somewhere else and that to us is not just because it's Sunday morning and that's what you have to do because that's how God loves you. It's not. It's an offering to him. Right? It's a sacrifice of praise. It says, I love you and I trust you. And so when we do that, when we bring something, God is so big. He's not needing a certain amount of US dollars from us. Right? Like, we understand that. Churches have spoken it wrong for so long, and we I've heard so many offensive things that pastors have said about tithes and I don't know where you've come from or what your background is but I want you to know that this is between you and the lord and it's going into your local church not only to do the work of the ministry. That's the practical part, but tithing is a heart issue. It has the potential to break something in you that's that's not healthy like, oh, I I don't I can't afford to give is what so many people say. It's actually not true because it's not a natural thing. It's a supernatural thing. And so as we bring our tithe and our offering to the Lord, That's my strength. Holy Spirit, are you coming in a squeak tonight? Okay, I'll stop. Bringing our tithe and offering is an act of love and service to him. And so when we do that, it's so personal. It's between us and him. And so when we think about that, I just want you to think about that. It's not because the pastor needs your money. It's not because you're getting more rewards in heaven. It's not because it's sun checking the Sunday box. It is just such a personal thing between you and the Lord. Money has the power to grip our heart. That's clear through scripture whether you have negative or billions. Right? It has the power and the potential to grip our heart. So this is such a brilliant way that the lord not only provided a way for the local church to maintain and to do the work of the ministry to be the hands and the feet of people in Jackson that need it and beyond but it also keeps our heart in check with him just between us and him. It's just a really beautiful thing. So, we bring our tithe and our offering together when we join together corporately as a tribe family but you can give any time and I just wanted to point out too before we pray over the offering that something just in said really stuck out. It was one of the last things he said. If you don't feel close to the lord or you just kind of feel stuck but you've been doing something that you've always done and it's not working, I think that really stood out to me whether it's for me personally or for the group because we want so bad in our humanness to for God to be a formula. It's like we need one plus one to equal two. We just do. Right? Like, everything needs to fit in this beautiful box. That's just not how I've seen scripture work. It's just not how I've seen Jesus be. Because then it then it gives us the control. If one plus one equals two, then that's the constant and we're in control. Right? That's just a human thing. It takes away our need to rely on him. And so if you've always prayed a certain way, but you're not feeling close to him. If you've always done a certain thing and you're not feeling close, that's not because he's left and it might not even be because we're in sin. It could be but it doesn't have to be. It could just be try something new. He wants relationship with us. Something John Mark Palmer says is some form of prayer is just being quiet. I love that. Try going on a walk or a jog and without your headphones, just listening. I don't know. Shake it up, but that really stood out. That was great. As we pray over our tithe and offering, whether you're giving now or another time just practically speaking here at Tribe, we have a little brown box right there, a wooden box. You can put cash or check. There's also a black box outside the front door. You could also give online anytime at trialjh.com. There's a giving tab. And then, of course, the easiest way is to open your smartphone and send a number to 84321. And if it's your first time, you have just about a minute of instruction. It's very easy but anytime thereafter, you can just bring your tithe anytime. So, let's pray. Whether you're giving now or another time. Close your eyes with me. Heavenly father, we just come to you with thankful, thankful hearts. Whether we're saying it and mean it or whether we're saying it by faith because what we do know is true is that you are good all the time and you are unchanging. And even when it feels like life is tough or there are storms, some we were reading in Hebrews today. If we had gone a little further, it talks about how the hope we have in you is an anchor for our soul. We need an anchor in the storms of life. We need an anchor when it's come. Lord, you are our anchor. We just thank you that we have both in god. Father, I pray specifically for the finances of everybody here as we give financially towards the work of a local ministry, father. We it's a hard thing. We're giving to the work of the ministry because we say we love you and we trust you enough to be obedient in that area. Thank you for being such a trustworthy god in all areas all the time. We love you. In Jesus name, amen. Just two quick announcements before we get out. Easter is coming. Easter is later than usual this year but it works well for all who's are gone for spring break but on Sunday, April 20, we will be having Easter service not here but at the Virginian where we used to meet and not in the bar but next door where we had Easter last year in the conference center. So we'll have one big service at 10AM, April 20. And not only will it be a big family service where because you guys are at the 09:00 here at the TMC. We also have an 11:00. So we all get to be together as one Tribe fam. We'll have a big meal, like a big family lunch right there in the same room afterwards. More details on that to come. And then bring your soft clothes after because we'll have a cornhole tournament. So stretch, bring your your Easter shorts, and we'll have a lot of fun that day. So more details on that coming up. And then the second and last thing is this, before we dismiss you. Today, if you need prayer for anything, number one, you can fill it out on this card. On the back, you can write it. The stat tribe staff prays for these every Monday and takes them very seriously. You can also, if you want to know what's going on around tribe, you can fill out the front here just with your name and number. I promise we won't abuse that. This is the one, the source of the text if you ever wonder. Yeah, she she won't. Oh. But if you need prayer for anything in person today, please don't leave. If you feel burdened, I know in worship, Lisa said, you know, we sing that extra bridge and like breaking strongholds but if you feel trapped in something, if you just feel, if it seems big, if it seems small, nothing is too big or small. We want to partner with you. So, right here, what we call our VIP room, please head this way as we dismiss and Matt and Renee will be there to pray with you and I believe Lanisha will come up and pray with you there. So, we just want to join our faith with you as brothers and sisters in Christ. We're in this one big family, not just a tribe family but the family of god and nothing's too big or small to pray together with. Amen? Okay. Let's stand to our feet. Lord, I pray. Good job, Justin. Father, I just pray a blessing over everyone here. Lord, we love you. Help us to obey you in all things. I pray for a good week this week where we'll not only hear yet the voice of your holy spirit, but we'll have the courage to obey in both big and little things. We love you, Lord. We worship you today. Thank you for how you're working, what you're doing, and for who you are. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for coming. You are dismissed. Noise just been noise.