Hey Gang,
We continue this week with Bible stories that fit together to tell one story – God’s Story. This 13-week study will help us understand the Bible’s story, our place in the story, and its implications for our lives today. Why study this series? Because it can lead us not only to understand the Bible’s overarching message but also to encounter the Lord God who is its ultimate Author. After all, it is His story.
The lessons in this series are:
- June 2 - God Begins the Story
- June 9 - God Chooses a People
- June 16 - God Delivers His People
- June 23 - God Instructs His People
- June 30 - God Dwells Among His People
- July 7 - God Establishes a Kingdom for His People
- July 14 - God Disciplines His People
- July 21 - God Restores His People
- July 28 - God Promises the Messiah
- August 4 - God Sends His Son
- August 11 - Jesus Is Crucified and Raised
- August 18 - Jesus Commissions His Church
- August 25 - God Completes the Story
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| What Does This Mean? True Beauty Be Still Click Here |
Do you ever feel like God is far off or that you’re separated from Him somehow? What tends to come between you and a constant awareness of God’s companionship in your life? When do you talk to and listen to Him well? When do you tend to push Him away or ignore Him?
I. FIRMLY DWELL WITH GOD – EXODUS 26:30-33
30 You are to set up the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you have been shown on the mountain. 31 “You are to make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen with a design of cherubim worked into it. 32 Hang it on four gold-plated posts of acacia wood that have gold hooks and that stand on four silver bases. 33 Hang the veil under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony there behind the veil, so the veil will make a separation for you between the holy place and the most holy place.
After reading 26:30-33 and skimming 26:1-29 that precede it, how would you describe God’s interior design plan for the tabernacle?
God is not confined to space but is present everywhere. Why did he need a “house”?
HEAVY STUFF: It was not like the curtains in your living room. This curtain was 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and as thick as a man’s palm. It was so heavy that it took 300 men to lift it when it was wet. It served as a boundary to keep the most holy place in the temple holy. It was the place that symbolized God’s presence among the people. Only the high priest was allowed to go past the curtain, and he could only go one day a year.
Life Goal
Choose to live with a constant awareness of God’s presence in your life.
Choose to live with a constant awareness of God’s presence in your life.
I. FIRMLY DWELL WITH GOD – EXODUS 26:30-33
30 You are to set up the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you have been shown on the mountain. 31 “You are to make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen with a design of cherubim worked into it. 32 Hang it on four gold-plated posts of acacia wood that have gold hooks and that stand on four silver bases. 33 Hang the veil under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony there behind the veil, so the veil will make a separation for you between the holy place and the most holy place.
After reading 26:30-33 and skimming 26:1-29 that precede it, how would you describe God’s interior design plan for the tabernacle?
- Characteristics we can say about God’s plan include: it was detailed, specific, precious materials, designed to be beautiful, designed to make the tabernacle portable, intended to remind people of God and His holiness.
- The form of the tabernacle was designed to fit its function (Ex. 25:8-9).
God is not confined to space but is present everywhere. Why did he need a “house”?
HEAVY STUFF: It was not like the curtains in your living room. This curtain was 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and as thick as a man’s palm. It was so heavy that it took 300 men to lift it when it was wet. It served as a boundary to keep the most holy place in the temple holy. It was the place that symbolized God’s presence among the people. Only the high priest was allowed to go past the curtain, and he could only go one day a year.
How do physical items/settings prompt you to experience God’s presence? How do they remind you to respect God? How does this respect spill over even when the items (or setting) aren’t present?
II. WALK WITH GOD – EXODUS 29:43-46
43 I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. 45 I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. 46 And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I am Yahweh their God.
What did it mean for God to meet with His people? Describe a time God has met with you.
- The fact that God who created the universe wants to meet with us is in itself astounding. This is the same God who would send His Son in human flesh to be called Immanuel – “God is with us” (Matt. 1:23). He is the Word made flesh who later “took up residence among us” (John 1:14). And ultimately He will be the Creator of the new heaven and earth who will dwell with humanity and live with them and be their God (Rev. 21:3).
- Though God is always with us, there are occasions He reveals Himself, making His presence known and felt in extraordinary ways.
Why do you think God didn’t just meet each Israelite individually in their own tents? What’s the application for believers today?
- He likely did that too.
- God revealed His holiness and His presence in a special way when His people gathered together to worship Him.
- We can and should worship God individually.
- We can and should worship God corporately.
- Time alone with God is essential to spiritual growth, and Jesus Himself set an example for us in this discipline. Jesus also practiced, and Scripture teaches, the importance of regular participation in worship with other believers (Heb. 10:24-25).
CORPORATE WORSHIP: What elements of corporate worship best draw people into God’s presence?
III. SEE AND FOLLOW GOD – EXODUS 40:34-38
34 The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud rested on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 The Israelites set out whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle throughout all the stages of their journey. 37 If the cloud was not taken up, they did not set out until the day it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and there was a fire inside the cloud by night, visible to the entire house of Israel throughout all the stages of their journey.
TAKE NOTICE: God’s glory is the weightiness of His presence.
How would you describe a weighty moment between you and God?
How do you notice God’s glory in day-to-day life?
Why is it important to recognize God’s glory in every aspect of your life?
Prayer of Commitment
Lord, how sweet to know that You dwell among us and that by Your glorious presence You lead us onward in this life and into eternity. Praise be to Your name. Amen.
Lord, how sweet to know that You dwell among us and that by Your glorious presence You lead us onward in this life and into eternity. Praise be to Your name. Amen.
Think about this – In the beginning of Exodus, Israel was enslaved in Egypt and didn’t know that God was either near or aware of them. In the end of Exodus, they are free, redeemed people, on the way to the land of promise, accompanied and guided by the almighty God Himself. So it has been. Those who have been redeemed by God are guided and sustained through the wilderness as they journey to the land of promise. God always leads those whom He has redeemed. How should I think about this?
Mark Krohl will be teaching for me this week!
See you in a couple of weeks - God bless!!
In His Love,
David & Susan
