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Well howdy Spotify, thank you for tuning in to Pastor Mark's sermon this week.

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So with that guys, it's sermon time.

Alright, welcome to church, welcome to Bible study, welcome, welcome, welcome, good to see all of you.

Alright, welcome to church, welcome to Bible study, welcome, welcome, welcome, good to see all of you.

If you've got a Bible, go to Exodus chapters 28 and 29 and here's where we find ourselves.

We're going back in time over 3,000 years ago and I want to make this really practical.

So here we are, we're gathering together as a church in a building and you are with a leader.

And the question is, well when and how and where and why did all of this start?

I mean, today Christianity is the biggest movement of any sort of kind in the history of our planet.

And every week people around the globe stop.

They tend to go to places of meeting where people have given through capital campaigns, building funds.

People are giving generously every week.

There are leaders that are appointed or deemed qualified to lead God's people in worship and to teach them the word of God.

And the question is, well, why do we do this and where did this all begin?

That's exactly where we find ourselves today in the Bible.

Over 3,000 years ago, God's people were liberated from slavery in Egypt and they were on their way to their home to found the new nation of Israel.

And as they were wandering in the wilderness, God said it was time to prepare a home for worship.

He calls it the tabernacle.

It's a portable worship center.

It's got an outer courtyard and an inner tent. We've looked at it.

It's about 675 square feet.

The total bill cost we've established is $300 million.

It's $444,000 a square foot.

And it is to house God's presence so that the worship of God would be the center of the nation.

And the big idea is this.

The most important thing for any nation is to learn to worship the one true God.

Before a nation can succeed at anything, it needs to learn one thing and that is how to worship God.

And so what we're going to see today is in addition to having the place to worship God, they need the people to help lead them in the worship of God.

So God is the object of worship.

The tabernacle is the place of worship and then the priests are the leaders who teach God's people and lead God's people in the worship of God.

And so that sort of leads us to today where our version of the tabernacle is the church.

Our version of the priest would be the pastors and the leaders.

And so we're going to jump right in and we're going to start in Exodus 28 and we're going to look at the priesthood.

And so we'll jump right in.

And here's what God says.

So God establishes the leadership.

He says to Moses, bring Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve me as priests.

So this is the first leadership.

Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, Alayazar and Ithamar and you shall make holy garments.

So they're going to get a uniform.

Okay, so if you work at Chick-fil-A, here's the uniform for glory for beauty.

You shall speak to all the skillful whom I have filled with the spirit of skill that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood.

Here's the uniform.

These are the garments that they shall make.

A breast piece, an effod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, a sash.

They shall receive gold, blue, purple, scarlet yarns.

Fine twine, linen, you shall make a plate of purple, gold and engrave on it.

Like the engravings of a signet, holy to the Lord.

You shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue and shall be on the front of the turban.

And then it goes on to say it shall be on Aaron's forehead, goes on to say and make linen under garments to cover their naked flesh.

And then the rest of the chapter, Exodus 28, 6 through 40, gives specific instructions for the crafting of each item for the priesthood.

So the beginning of 28, God says, here's exactly what you make for the uniform.

The rest of the chapter, exactly how to make it.

So if you love IKEA furniture and you're like, I follow the direction specifically, you need to go back and read the rest of Exodus 28.

It's really going to warm your heart.

It's going to tell you exactly how these things were built.

But I want you to see here that this is God first and foremost saying, ministries need leadership.

And there is a, there is a despising of leadership in our day.

And some people don't like leadership altogether.

They're just like, it's just me and God.

Well, that's not what God said.

God says, there needs to be leaders.

So he says, Aaron and your sons are going to be leaders.

So God works through leadership.

That's really important.

But God works here not just through leadership.

He works through leadership that he chooses.

So the senior highest leaders are Moses. He's the prophet.

And then Aaron, he's the priest.

So these are the highest ranking leaders.

Aaron is going to be the high priest and then under him will be priests.

So there are layers and levels of leadership.

This is not unlike the military or a company where there are layers and levels of leadership.

And what's interesting I find here is that the leadership is a family.

I don't know if you know this, Moses and Aaron, their brothers, their biological brothers.

In addition, God says to Aaron, you'll be the high priest and then who's going to be the other priest?

Your sons.

So this is a family ministry.

And then your grandsons will also be priests.

So to be a priest in the line of Aaron, you need to literally be a physically descendant of the family line of Aaron.

Well, thank you for joining us here on Spotify.

If you don't know me, my name is Pastor Mark Driscoll.

I have been in the pulpit for a little more than 30 years preaching and teaching the Bible.

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And so the way it would work is this.

A man was supposed to be godly and then raised his sons to be godly.

And then grandpa and dad would raise the grandsons to be godly.

And then generations of the family would grow up doing ministry together.

Now, it doesn't always work that way, but that would be ideal.

This has been my prayer by God's grace.

Grace's dad was a pastor.

He loved and served the Lord.

I'm a pastor by God's grace.

I get to love and serve the Lord.

Our sons love and serve the Lord.

By God's grace, our grandsons will love and serve the Lord.

This is the hope and the prayer and the goal.

And ultimately, when this happens,

you get this beautiful opportunity to love and serve the Lord together as a family.

And the kids know ministry in a way that no one else can.

You know why?

That's all they've ever known.

Some of you grew up, for example, in a musical family,

and musical families fascinated me.

I have no musical skill whatsoever.

I'm sure between me and heaven is auto-tune.

I do sing to the Lord, but it is not a joyful noise.

It is just a noise.

But musical families fascinated me,

because there are people that know how to sing and play instruments,

and they just have this innate natural ability.

And the question is, well, how did you learn that?

And they say, I don't know.

In our family, we just always played instruments and sang,

and we had a family band.

Oh, so that's what you've known since you were little.

In a ministry family, it's what you've known since you were little.

You just grew up with it.

And so that's sort of the context here.

And I'm not against Bible colleges,

and I'm not against seminaries.

I've actually got a degree from a seminary.

But at the end of the day, the best place to prepare people for ministry is family.

You know why?

A church is a family.

You guys are a family.

We're a family.

And so the best way to prepare people for ministry is in the context of the family,

because leading a ministry is leading God's family.

And this is what happens as well.

When Jesus comes along, he takes over the ministry of a guy named John.

So the first followers of Jesus,

they were originally followers of John.

John was his cousin.

They were relatives.

John the baptizer, well his dad, Zachariah,

was a priest, a descendant of Aaron.

And so John grew up in a priestly family,

and he grew up in a ministry family.

So what starts here in Exodus,

it goes all the way to the days of Jesus.

And it finds its fulfillment when a ministry family, a priestly family,

hands their ministry to Jesus as the beginning of his ministry.

Now, that being said, we're going to look at the uniform.

And the uniform, just so you know, it's pretty lavish.

Just so you know, I will not be wearing this uniform.

It includes a giant breastplate.

It's like a bulletproof vest of pure gold.

I could not imagine what the internet would do if I showed up with this uniform.

I will not be wearing this.

But here is the uniform.

A breast piece of judgment.

It contains the orem and therem for wisdom.

Nobody's exactly sure what that was.

Maybe it was like rolling dice for God to providentially make decisions.

An effod, which is a long sleeveless vest like an apron,

because they're offering sacrifices.

So this is like your pit master wearing his effod

with 12 tribes of Israel and scribed on stones.

A robe, it had a bells at the bottom to signal if the high priest had died in the tabernacle.

So this is wild.

Let me just say, if you're the high priest and you go into the tabernacle

and you do something wrong and God kills you,

nobody's going in after you.

Why?

God will kill you too.

They're like, you go in, I'm not going in.

You already killed the first guy.

So they would put a rope on your foot.

And if they didn't hear the bells, they just pull you out.

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Okay.

This is quite a job.

There had to be a weird HR department.

We're going to need you to sign this form.

If the bells stop jingling, we pull you out.

A tunic, this is the same word used for God clothing Adam and Eve after the fall.

When Adam and Eve sin, God put a tunic on them.

There's was a tunic of animal skin.

Here, it's a tunic of fabric, but God put a tunic on them.

A sash likely to secure the tunic, a turban, and holy to the Lord was engraved on it.

It was like a crown.

A gold medallion on the front of the turban denoting rule with heavenly authority.

And then in undergarment, modesty and reverence before the Lord.

Here's why.

They had the altar and sometimes you'd have to climb up on it.

And God's like, we're going to make sure everything's taken care of.

This is modesty before the Lord.

And here's what's interesting.

I put this note together.

This level of craftsmanship and the finest materials could cost up to $800,000 for the uniform today.

That is something.

All of the ornate aspects of this uniform were removed when the high priest came before God's presence to humbly repent of his sin and the sin of the people on the day of his home.

So the high priest would wear this as a representative of God.

But when he came into God's presence, he took all of this off.

You know why?

You don't come in arrogantly before the Lord.

You come in humbly.

Come in humbly.

So he just wore a simple, I believe it was linen, piece of cloth.

The other thing is, well, you'll notice it doesn't include shoes.

Did you notice that?

My wife was very disappointed to hear this, by the way.

Pray for her.

She's in a period of mourning.

Now, the reason that they didn't have shoes is in Exodus 3 when Moses came before the Lord.

The Lord said, take your shoes off. This is holy ground.

When the priest came before the Lord, there were no shoes.

It's holy ground, so there were no shoes.

And so, ultimately, when the priest would wear this and come before the Lord, both his clothing and the lack of shoes was to denote reverence and respect and humility before God.

But here's what it perhaps looked like.

It was quite a sign, quite a sign.

Why would they dress like this?

Well, it says, for beauty and for glory is what God said.

But think of it this way.

And let me say this too, at this point, the people are homeless.

This is a wild-looking homeless guy.

They're wandering around in the wilderness.

They escaped Egypt. They're not in Israel.

And you would know for a fact that this guy was the leader, just by looking at him.

You'd be like, he must be in charge.

And here's the point, all the other kingdoms had a what?

Had a king who was dressed in a way that was regal.

Well, the priest, the high priest, he was the representative of what kingdom?

The kingdom of God.

And so, he was to carry himself that when the people saw him, he had authority.

And when the other king saw him, they saw him as a dignitary.

And they would ask, well, what kingdom does he represent?

He represents the kingdom of heaven.

He represents the kingdom of God.

This was honor and authority among the nations.

Well, in addition, each of these aspects and elements, it included qualifications for ministry.

So God goes on and he says, here's the uniform and how I am to be honored in the service.

And then here are the qualifications to wear the uniform.

Think of it in this way.

Some of you served in the military and we love you and we honor you and we praise God for you.

And to wear the uniform, you had to qualify.

You had to go through certain qualifications to wear the uniform.

So it was for God's servants serving him spiritually.

So we'll look at next are the five qualifications for ministry leaders, Exodus 29.

Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them.

Aaron, the high priest and his sons, the other priests, that they may serve me as priests.

Take one bowl, two rams without blemish and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes, unleavened wafers.

Remember that word unleavened. We'll come back to it.

You shall bring Aaron's sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.

Then you shall take the garments and put on Aaron, the holy crown on the turban.

Take the anointing oil and pour it on the head and anoint him.

And then bring the priesthood and it shall be theirs as a statute forever.

Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord.

I will meet with you all about God's presence to speak to you there.

There I will meet with the people of Israel and it shall be sanctified by my glory.

I will consecrate the tent of meeting. That's the tabernacle and the altar.

Aaron also and his sons, I will consecrate to serve me as priests.

I will dwell among the people of Israel and I will be their God.

And they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them.

I am the Lord their God.

So I want to talk about now as qualifications for ministry leadership.

You can't just be a leader. You can't just raise your hand.

You can't just tell everybody I'm in charge.

There are here five qualifications for ministry leaders.

Ministry leader qualification number one, qualified by God.

So the high priest was who?

Aaron. Who picked him? God.

There wasn't a vote. The people didn't vote.

There was no nomination process. God said, I pick Aaron.

So God chose him.

And then he had priests serving under him. God chose them.

And the priesthood was sovereignly chosen by birth.

Zero women were allowed to be priests.

Zero members of families other than Aaron's were allowed to be priest.

Now today I'm sure this would be very controversial.

There would be women and members of other households who would say, we feel discriminated against.

God would say, I get to choose.

I'm a woman and I feel called. God said, I didn't call you.

You don't get to call yourself.

Well, I wasn't born into Aaron's family, but I feel called.

God said, if you were called, I would have put you in Aaron's family.

God sovereignly chose who his leaders would be.

And then as a result, he dresses them in a uniform once they are qualified to show that they have been chosen

and they meet the qualifications of a leader.

We get this all the time in church. People come in there like, God is called me.

The answer is, well, we'll see.

We'll see.

Oftentimes people just want to call themselves.

And if God has not called you, then that calling means nothing.

Number two, ministry leader qualification.

Number two, excuse me, ministry leader qualification.

Number two, confirm by character.

Confirm by character.

A leader is supposed to be a person who sets an example so they have to have character.

If you don't have character, you can't set an example.

So here are the qualifications for leadership, for Aaron, the high priest and his son's, his son's the other priest.

Number one, a man.

A man.

There were judges, there were prophetesses who were female.

The priests were only male.

They were only male.

Like in the New Testament, the pastors are only male.

I know this is controversial, but not with God.

Not with me.

Maybe with you.

But not with God.

And not with me.

Only men.

Have I been clear?

Okay.

Okay.

Men.

Two people are clapping and one is a woman.

So we're off to a start.

So to be a leader, you had to be a man and you had to be an Aaron's family.

In addition, number three, you had to be a godly believer.

Let's see, you're an unbeliever.

We can't be a priest.

But if you're ungodly, you can't be a believer.

Number four, you were married to a woman, only one woman.

And she was a virgin when you married her.

If you were married to more than one woman and you were polygamous, you couldn't be a priest.

If you were a man who was an adulterer, you couldn't be a priest.

If you were a man who was unmarried, you couldn't be a priest.

If you were a man who was married to a woman, excuse me, a man who was married to a man, you could not be a priest.

These are just God's rules.

If you were married to a woman who was not a virgin when you met her, then you could not be a priest.

Because you need to set an example and these were God's standards.

Number five, you couldn't have any disabilities.

Again, today we would think this is sort of shocking.

Well, part of it is the job has certain physical requirements.

Part of it is you've got to carry the tabernacle around.

And you've got to offer sacrifices of animals.

And if you have certain disabilities, you literally can't do the job.

So the qualifications were a man from Aaron's family, who was a godly believer,

who had married one virgin woman and had no disabilities.

They showed that the man was qualified by washing him, it says, from head to toe.

It was kind of like their version of baptism.

It's showing he is qualified and he is clean and fit for service.

Now what's wild is two of Aaron's sons, they do something disqualifying in Leviticus chapter 10.

The sons, Neh dab and Abihou, they offer forbidden sacrifices.

What does God do to them?

He kills them by fire.

What is the point?

You can be qualified and do something and disqualify yourself.

You can do something that causes you to no longer be qualified.

This happens tragically, too frequently.

I'll give you an example, I'm not gossiping here because a book was written about it.

But I went to Seminar, I've got a master's degree in what's called exegetical theology,

biblical theology.

One of my classmates, we both graduated together and then he started taking mission trips to Mexico

and then started smuggling drugs for the cartel on mission trips.

And people are like, he's got such a heart for the Mexican people, he's going all the time.

Finally got arrested, spent a lot of time in prison for being a drug meal for the Mexican cartel.

The guy that was in class with me in Seminar.

We're living in the days of Elijah and the question is, what would Elijah do?

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.

And now entire cities are dominated by demonic mayors worshipping a counterfeit God.

Socialistic mayors are now governing some of the largest cities in the United States of America.

It's just communism, repackage, it's failed everywhere.

You feel alone, but you're not.

There's always people who do love Jesus, who do believe the Bible, who do hate sin,

who do know the difference between the Holy Spirit and unholy spirits.

They do know the difference between a male and a female and truth and lies and light and darkness and heaven and hell and repentance and tolerance.

There is a God.

Those are the two options, my friend.

Fire of judgment or fire of revival.

Well, thank you for letting us help you learn God's word.

We're going to invite you to join a brand new group called the Remnant.

But before I do, and before we do, I want to let you know, if you're a Bible teaching pastor who's faithful,

thank you. You are a unicorn.

There are very few of you.

If you go to a decent Bible-believing church led by a non-woke heterosexual male who is not a coward,

give Mahog pray for him and tell him you're really grateful because it is more difficult than ever to find a courageous Bible teaching church.

The denominations are God, rainbow flags, BLM, transgender bishops.

That's a conga line to help.

Most of our emails are, my church sucks. I can't find one.

Real faith, we're doing something about it.

We are going to equip and train the next generation of church planners. We want to help with that.

We want to get involved in that and we already are.

That's something Pastor Mark is very passionate about training young men to get involved in this.

So, what can you do about it?

Because we don't want you to just sit at home comfortably watching the sermon.

We are thankful that you are tuning in. We are thankful for you being part of the real faith family.

But that's not enough. We need you guys if you're being fed by real faith.

If it's blessing you to stand tall with us.

So, in the Old Testament, there was something called the Remnant.

In Elijah's days, he was fighting Jezebel. He was fighting Ahab.

He was a prophet and he thought he was alone.

And we're not in this fight alone. We've got you guys.

And that was the Remnant.

So, God showed him there were 7,000 people that would not bow to bail in addition to him.

That supported him, that helped him, that put courage in the prophet.

But for now, we want you to join the cause with us, to get in the fight with us.

You. So, if you text stand to 999-383, stand to 999-383.

You'll see a landing page. We'll show you how you can join the Remnant and support us.

Because we need it. We need to go to war for the pulpit, for the church, and for America.

This country is one generation away from disaster. It is not going to end well.

It is not. Practically, this looks like we're going to keep putting out Bible teaching.

But if you've got a pastor, we're going to be hosting pastors cohorts.

We're going to teach him how to set up his governance, how to preach without pulling a punch, and how to lead with courage.

If your church would like to start a men's ministry, we've got one of the largest in the country.

Fly your pastor out. We'll tell him how to do it. He can go back, and he can rally the men.

In addition, we're banking classes for theological education to train the next generation.

There's a lot more that we'll be rolling out to make it clear we're not starting a network.

We're not starting a denomination. We are just stacking up some ammunition.

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Should he be a pastor?

Well, that's judgey.

But correct.

So yes, just because you were qualified doesn't mean that you can't be disqualified.

You can do things to where you need to go get another job.

You shouldn't be anybody spiritual leader anymore.

And it happens all the time. This can be adultery. This can be a lifestyle of drunkenness or drug abuse or criminal behavior or apostasy or denial of essential Christian beliefs.

There are innumerable ways that maybe you were qualified and now you are disqualified and you should no longer be a spiritual leader.

Ministry leader qualification number three repentant of sin.

So it talks here about sacrifices of one bull and two rams.

A bull is a sin offering. You would you would offer a bull in place of your sins and then the two rams were for these purposes.

The burnt offering of one ram was for full surrender.

So the burnt offering of a ram you would burn the whole ram showing full surrender to God.

And then the other ram was for ordination according to Exodus 29.

And so the way it would work is the priest or the high priest would take the animals and would confess their sins over the animal.

And then the animals would die would be slaughtered and their blood would be shed in the place of the priest.

Now the priest was already compared to the average person a holy man of God.

I mean, he had good character compared to the normal person, but he still was a sinner.

And so he needed to repent of his sin.

And then the animal would have the sin of the man of God imputed to it.

The result is that the sin would be transferred to the animal and the animal then would become a substitute and the animal would be slaughtered and sacrificed because the wage for sin is death.

And the entire sacrificial system was preparing for the coming of Jesus who would on the cross take our place and shed his blood and give his life and die for our sins.

And then they would take the blood of the sacrifices and they would put it on the ear of the priest.

They would put it on the thumb of the priest and they would put it on the toe of the priest. Why would they do that?

All of your communication, everything you do and touch and everywhere you go now needs to be consecrated holy to the Lord.

It's a life of total surrender.

There's none of your communication. There's nothing that you do or touch.

And there's nowhere that you go that is not unto the Lord.

It's a life of full surrender.

And so this is showing ongoing repentance of sin.

Meaning you can't lead other people in repentance of sin unless you're always repenting of your own sin.

This is why the first duty of a Christian leader is to be a Christian.

And before you can tell other people to follow God, you need to follow God and before you lead other people in worshiping God, you need to worship God.

And before you tell other people to repent of their sin to Jesus Christ, you need to repent of your sin to Jesus Christ.

Ministry leader qualification number four, humble in spirit.

It speaks of unleavened bread, cakes and wafers.

Say, what is that?

Well, let me ask you this.

What does yeast do? What does leaven do?

Causes to rise.

In the Bible, it's symbolic of pride, arrogance, hotiness.

The Bible says that pride puffs up.

Easter leaven does the same thing.

And so what it is saying here is there is no place for pride, arrogance, hubris, hotiness in ministry in Matthew chapter 16.

Jesus says, beware of the yeast or leaven of the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The point is this, ministry cannot be done in pride.

It can only be done in humility.

I would not tell you I am humble.

I will tell you that anything I have ever done in humility, it ended very painfully and badly.

Anything rather that I did in pride, anything that I have ever done in pride, it ended painfully and badly.

Anything that I have done in humility, God blessed it.

I will tell you that.

I will tell you that when I started ministry as a young man, I believe my anointing was here and I believe that my humility and my preparation was here.

And I should have waited longer.

I got God's calling right, I don't believe I got God's timing right, I believe I rushed it.

And that's my fault, that's nobody's fault but mine.

By God's grace I didn't do anything disqualifying but I did some things that were very painful.

And the Bible just so you know has nothing good to say about pride.

I've actually looked at all of the verses.

I was hoping to find one.

I couldn't find one.

In fact, Satan's core roots in is pride.

The Bible says that God opposes the proud.

So to choose pride is to choose to fight God but it says it gives grace to the humble.

So God fights against those who are proud but he helps those who are humble.

It's a terrifying verse, especially for those who are in ministry leadership.

So why the Bible says over and over says to humble yourself.

People will say all the time, well man, circumstances sure humble you, no they don't.

I've seen people get blasted by circumstances and be continually arrogant.

See, circumstances can humiliate you but they can't humble you.

Only you can humble you.

It's supposed to say this, it's not in my notes, to use strong, competent, successful in business or military alpha males.

Pride may have gotten you some success but eventually it will be your downfall and death.

Ultimately, when we choose the path of pride, we are doing what is demonic and we are declaring war on God.

And here it says no leaven, it's a reminder, no pride.

And pride is this, particularly when it's in ministry.

So these are convictions and qualifications for ministry leaders starting with me as you're founding in senior pastor.

But I always get worried when I hear people say like my church, my church, I didn't die for anybody.

My pulpit, no, no, it belongs to the Lord.

My people, I didn't know, I'm not taking anybody to heaven.

My platform, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

The Lord's people, the Lord's church, the Lord's pulpit, the Lord's Word, the Lord's ministry, like it all belongs to the Lord.

We don't own anything, we steward it.

He owns it, we steward it.

It's nothing that we have bought, purchased, paid for.

I didn't live without sin for anybody, I didn't die on the cross for anybody, I didn't rise from the dead.

I don't have a throne that I sit on and nobody's going to die and stand before me.

I'm just a servant who was bloodbought just like everybody else.

Here's what I do before every sermon.

Here's exactly what I do.

I kneel.

This is exactly what I do.

And I ask for an anointing of grace from the Holy Spirit on your son, your sermon, your servant, and your service.

That's what I ask for every time.

And I pray against the enemy, his servants, their works and the facts and pride.

That's what I do every single time.

I'll be honest with you guys.

I absolutely fear God.

And the older I get, the more I fear God.

And the more responsibility I have, the more I fear God.

And the longer I do this job, the more I realize that pride could ruin everything God has ever done.

And it absolutely terrifies me.

It really does.

So if you think about me, just pray for ongoing humility and that by the grace of God,

that I and the leaders and the board members and the staff members and the volunteers at both real faith and Trinity

would just constantly pass the humility test because every day is the humility test in ministry.

Every day is the humility test.

But humble in spirit, that's the test.

And then ministry qualification number five, anointed by God, says they would take oil and pour it on the priest or the high priest.

Oil in the Bible represents what?

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And it's the flow.

So when oil is poured out, it flows.

When the Spirit of God, He is poured out, He flows.

And what happens when you're anointed with the Holy Spirit?

Number one, there's different oil.

Some of you, you have an oil for worship or an oil for administration or an oil for counseling or an oil for teaching.

And number two, there's different flow.

And you can tell when you're in the flow.

Like some of you, you have an oil for, you can see it when somebody's leading worship.

And they're anointed.

They've got an oil for it.

And they're like, when they lead worship, it's just like God is present.

And it's easy and it happens.

And the spirit of God is there.

Somebody else, they're teaching and you're like, they're anointed for that.

Like, they have the oil for that and they just flow when they teach.

You're like, I understand what they're talking about.

Other people, they're counseling and you're like, my goodness, they get right to the heart and the root of the matter.

And they have the oil for that and it just flows and it gets to the heart.

And the Spirit of God unlocks something in them and you can just tell.

And sometimes when it's you and you're using your calling, you're just like, that's my oil.

And when God uses it, you're like, I was in the flow.

Like, I was praying and God used me and I was serving and God used me.

And there's just something beautiful about knowing your oil and being in his flow.

It's just an amazing thing.

It's a real gift that God gives.

It's a wonderful thing to be in the flow of the Holy Spirit.

And what that means is that God is doing ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit, but He's doing it, guess what?

It's doing it through you.

You're like, I get to be a part of it.

This is amazing.

God could have just done it, but He let me be a part of it.

And when I get to be a part of it, there's so much joy.

Now I get to be connected to my God.

And I get to see God's power working through me.

And I get to see the anointing of God's Spirit flow through me to help somebody else, to bless somebody else.

Somebody else, to serve somebody else, what a blessing that is.

And this is really the purpose of life.

And people who are Christians and don't serve, they don't know this.

And so their lives are very dry.

Their lives are very dry and they walk around going, I don't know what my purpose is.

Your purpose is to get oily.

Your purpose is to get oily.

Your purpose is to get in the flow.

Your purpose is to be filled with the Spirit.

Your purpose is to be serving.

Your purpose is to be working with God and God to be working through you.

You'll find great joy in that.

And so all of this is the tabernacle is a home.

There are people who came to meet with God and the priests and the high priests are like the servant staff.

So what happens here is ministry leaders get established.

This is the beginning of the church.

So the tabernacle is like the first capital campaign they're building fund.

It's the first center for worship or church.

The priests are like the first pastors.

And here is the beginning of local ministry.

And now this continues for about 1300 years.

From this moment forward for about 1300 years, this keeps happening.

There's worship, priests, qualifications, all of this.

And then somebody shows up.

Who is it?

Jesus shows up.

And he fulfills all of it.

And the whole point of the priesthood is to get us to Jesus Christ.

And everything in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, is to get us to Jesus Christ.

And it's all fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

So everything in the Old Testament is a foreshadowing.

And everything in Jesus Christ is a fulfillment.

Can I show you?

I get really excited about this.

Because when I open the Old Testament and I get to Jesus,

that's when I start getting really oily.

I get really excited about that.

This is what I get really excited about.

Okay, so here's what it says in Hebrews 7.

The former priest, we just looked at the beginning.

We're many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

But he Jesus holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

He always lives to make intercession for them.

Goes on to say, for it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest,

holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

He has no need like those former priests to offer sacrifices daily.

First for his own sins and then for those of the people since he did this once for all

when he offered up himself.

Here's what he's saying.

Jesus Christ did not need to offer a sacrifice for his sin

because unlike former priests, he had no sin.

And so he offered himself as the sacrifice for our sin.

In addition, they had the high priest and the priest.

He's above the priest and the high priest.

He's the great high priest, higher than even Aaron.

In addition, where the high priest had to every year before they could offer a sacrifice for our sin,

they had to offer a sacrifice for their sin.

Jesus never had to offer any sacrifice because Jesus alone of anyone who has ever lived in the history of planet earth.

He never committed one sin.

He is sinless. He is perfect.

He is God alone in addition.

Even if you had a good priest, eventually your priest died.

And you lost your priest.

But Jesus lives to intercede right now.

He's alive and well. He'll never die.

He lives forever and ever.

Your priest is always on the job.

Your priest never gets sick or weary.

Your priest never takes a moment off.

Your priest will never leave you nor forsake you.

Your priest will never die and depart from you.

That he lives to make intercession for you.

That means that right now every moment of every day, Jesus is alive and well.

Jesus is high and exalted.

Jesus' ear is open.

Jesus' heart is open.

Jesus is talking to the Father about you.

Jesus' heart is inclined toward you.

His ear is open to hear your prayer.

He's interceding for you.

He's praying for you.

Your honest heart.

Your honest mind.

He loves you.

He knows you by name.

He knows every longing of your heart.

He knows every thought of your mind.

He knows every day of your life.

And he lives to make intercession for you.

And he is the great forever and perfect high priest.

That's Jesus.

That's Jesus.

That's Jesus.

They were excited to have a high priest.

We've got Jesus, our great high priest.

And so when we come to worship him, we come to pray to him.

That's how we need to see him.

That's how we need to see him.

And then he does something wonderful for us.

See, I told you in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant.

You've got to be a priest.

You've got to be a male.

No females.

You've got to be a descendant of Aaron.

None of us Irishmen.

All right.

You have to have qualifying character.

Certain kind of marriage.

Chosen by God.

Undergo certain ceremonies.

Limited in number.

Hard to qualify.

But here's what Jesus has done.

If you believe in him, if you belong to him,

if you turn from sin and trust in him,

you get to be a priest.

I'll show you.

It's wild.

First Peter 2.5.

You are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.

All of us who believe in and belong to Jesus.

To offer spiritual sacrifices except to God through Jesus Christ.

We do that and we sing and pray and serve.

First Peter 2.9.

You are a royal priesthood.

Revelation 1, 5, 3, 6.

Jesus Christ made us a kingdom.

Priest to his God and Father.

1 Timothy 2.1.

First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers,

intercessions, thanks, giveings be made for all people.

Just like a priest would intercede between people and God.

You can pray for people.

You can intercede for people.

You can do priestly work.

Acts 5, 12.

Many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people

by the hands of the apostles.

And Hebrews 6, 2 talks about the laying on of hands.

Here's what it says is,

if you belong to Jesus Christ in the new covenant,

you get to do some priestly stuff.

You get to pray for people.

You get to worship God.

You get to lay hands on them.

You get to pray over them.

You get to do some things that the priest got to do.

I'll give you some examples of what these were.

Priest would steward facilities for God and for God worship and witness.

You can come volunteer and serve and prepare God's house for God's people and presence.

Priest would minister to God and worship.

You get to worship God's thing.

We're going to do it in a minute.

They would carry the presence of God.

When you go into the world, you're bringing the presence of God.

They literally would carry the presence of God.

Your body, if you have the Holy Spirit in you,

you carry the presence of God with you.

They would mediate for sinners between God and the sinner.

You can pray for people and bring their request to God.

They would also lead others in worship of God

and they would help others learn the Word of God.

And so now as new covenant believers who have the Holy Spirit

with Jesus as our great high priest,

you and I as believers in Jesus Christ,

we get to do some priestly ministry.

We're not just spectators of those who are doing things.

We are participants and we get to help do some things.