All service requires some form of sacrifice. May the Lord bless our service and that it not be in vain. We read of the construction of the tabernacle by skilled craftsmen. Many parallels with the church today.
Exodus 35: Sabbath Regulations
1 Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, "These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do.
2 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
3 You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day."
Contributions for the Tabernacle
4 Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, "This is the thing that the LORD has commanded.
5 Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze;
6 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats' hair,
7 tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood,
8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,
9 and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breast-piece.
10 "Let every skilful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded:
11 the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its hooks and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;
12 the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the veil of the screen;
13 the table with its poles and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;
14 the lampstand also for the light, with its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light;
15 and the altar of incense, with its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle;
16 the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;
17 the hangings of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court;
18 the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court, and their cords;
19 the finely worked garments for ministering in the Holy Place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests."
20 Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the LORD's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments.
22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the LORD.
23 And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats' hair or tanned rams' skins or goatskins brought them.
24 Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the LORD's contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it.
25 And every skilful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.
26 All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats' hair.
27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breast-piece,
28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.
29 All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the LORD had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the LORD.
Construction of the Tabernacle
30 Then Moses said to the people of Israel, "See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship,
32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze,
33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft.
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.
Exodus 36:
1 "Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the LORD has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded."
2 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.
3 And 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 LORD has 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.
8 And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skilfully worked.
9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size.
10 He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another.
11 He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set.
12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another.
13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.
14 He also made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains.
15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size.
16 He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.
17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain.
18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole.
19 And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and goatskins.
20 Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood.
21 Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame.
22 Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle.
23 The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side.
24 And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons.
25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames
26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame.
27 For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames.
28 He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear.
29 And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners.
30 There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases.
31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle,
32 and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward.
33 And he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames.
34 And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
35 He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skilfully worked into it he made it.
36 And for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver.
37 He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework,
38 and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze.
Things to think about…
Christ is our Sabbath rest, Ex 35:1-3, we celebrate this every Sunday, but Sunday is not the Sabbath fulfilment. Christ is the One who fulfils this principal of the law.
People gave it says ‘who’s hearts were stirred’ both men and woman, Ex 35:4-29. Remember they first gave their strength and wealth to building a gold calf. They renewed their covenant with the Lord and as a result He moved to allow them to give and sacrifice for the building of the tabernacle. May Christ continue to move in our hearts to serve Him as He builds the church.
Skilled craftsman, Ex 35:30-35, always want to teach others and pass on what they Lord has shown them. Let’s pray that we see Christ formed in the next generation teaching them to use their gifts. As Paul says to Timothy, that those gifts may be fanned into flame.
The people brought too many freewill offerings Ex 36:1-7. What a great problem to have. It is a blessing when a church has too many volunteers within its ministries or finances well exceed the need. If you have a gift in giving, playing an instrument, or ability to teach kids or lead a cell group, please see the ministry leaders and build in Christ’s kingdom.
Here is a graphic representation of what is described in Ex 36:8-38.
Vision Point for Cell groups
CBC's Vision "To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission".
Cell group questions from Sunday morning’s sermon “What’s with the stones” Ex 28.
1. The High Priest had the 12 tribes of Israel represented by 12 precious stones on his breastplate. What was the significance of the stones, their placement and where they were taken by the High Priest in his ministry in the holy of holies in the tabernacle?
2. Doug brought out that Jesus is our Great High Priest. Discuss what this means and how the Old Testament High Priest was a type of Christ.
3. What did Doug mean when he said that if he had a choice of stone, a lump of coal would have been his choice. He also brought out that when sin is committed blood had to be shed. What does this mean in the light of Christ and the cross?
4. In the New Jerusalem the walls are made up of 12 layers of precious stones and we are personally given a white stone with a new name, Rev 2:17. Discuss.
5. Pray for new folk that have recently joined us that they be joined into the fellowship of the church. Pray for each other, our city and country.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for Gary and Christine who lost their sister/sister in law Diane to a long battle with cancer. Pray for Diane’s husband Evan that his heart softens to Christ.
2. Pray for Catherine who has suffered many mini strokes, TIA’s. Out of hospital today.
3. People who have visited the church and have not been around for a few weeks.
4. Others who are struggling in their commitment to Christ and relationship strain/choices.
5. Sunday’s messages. The message this week – “Done decently and in order” Exod 36-40, Jay.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. Faithful preaching by Doug Horne on Sunday.
2. Ras Beirut Baptist Church thankful for CBC’s partnership and support - $1500.
3. 5 young people stepping up to be trained on the words and streaming software.
4. Blessing Beirut ($1500). Thank you!
5. Unity, peace and grace at CBC.
6. Praise God for all those who serve at CBC.
Announcements
1. Prayer meetings back this week. Tuesday and Thursday mornings at church 5:30am – 6:30am.
2. Carols Sun 20thDec 6pm. Start with a meal. Carols to start after the meal around 7pm.
3. Training for words and streaming – 6pm Friday night – young people.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
4. Kids Church in the house this week when the message is on.
