(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you anything else? very good keep up the good work out there preaching the gospel, of course almost every single day it seems there's people preaching the gospel and people getting saved, so praise the Lord that's awesome, very good offering tolls down there at the bottom of the page through the month of September prayer requests if there's anyone missing from the prayer list that you want added back on, submit another request, give us an update and we will gladly add a person back to the list, I just did a little bit of cleaning up here continue to pray for everyone that's on this list, we do have an update on brother Carter's brother that he did pass this week, so just please continue to be in prayer for him and his family and it was a tough thing, but you know obviously the good news is that brother Carter says that he was saved, he got testimony of salvation so this is a temporary passing, but still a very difficult time for the family, so please give your prayers to help comfort that family and then we have the prayers down there for the retirement home ministry just so we know kind of who these people are that we're praying for, even though you might not know them this is, they're requesting prayers, so since we are ministering to their to the people there, we're also going to be adding them to our prayer list for a few weeks and then obviously that will cycle through as we get new new prayer lists from them and then churches and pastors continue to pray for Pastor Thompson Sure Foundation Baptist Church and pray that God will bless him and his ministry and help him in his trials and tribulations that he is facing on the next page We are still in the month of September, so the challenge is to attend church three times per week for the entire month, hopefully you are taking that challenge seriously and putting it into practice We've got the October challenge since the month of October starts before next Sunday and that is the next soul winning challenge so we kind of spread out a few different soul winning challenges, different different types of soul winning challenges, this one is adding one hour of soul winning per week to your normal routine, so remember in June the goal was to try to attempt to give the gospel to at least one person every day this is different, this one is whatever your normal schedule is try to up that by an hour so you just have to decide, figure out what you normally have been doing, kind of what you average, maybe you don't always do the same thing, but the whole point is to challenge yourself to do an extra hour so if you did zero soul winning on average a week go soul winning for an hour that's how you're going to meet this challenge if you do one hour a week, do two, and so on real easy now the way we're going to do this too is just it's four full weeks in October, so we're just going to add that hour, you don't have to add an extra hour at the beginning of the fifth week or something like that so just a regular calendar week, Sunday to Saturday it'll start next Sunday so starting next Sunday you've got seven days to get one extra hour in and so on, so it's four consecutive weeks of adding one hour of soul winning to your normal routine and if your normal routine is you go out in between services, like that's your main soul winning time then if you're going out for the whole time you're going to have to find another time to do some extra soul winning, so that's the way it works out, if you normally do two hours, three hours, whatever we've got between the services add an extra hour if you want to complete this challenge homeschool field trip, so we've got the second field trip listed there for October 21st last week for Hebrews chapter four, it's another review week to wrap up chapter four who's done chapter four or will have this done and quoted by next week, just for chapter four, I'm going to show our hands one, two, three four five I've got five very good and I am planning on having some prizes to give out by next week too, so I can get caught up on the Bible memory stuff upcoming events, so October 13th and 15th there's a Mountain Baptist Church camp in West Virginia, we've got the chili cook-off on October 31st and that's on a Monday so if you're planning and I want people who are going to be submitting a chili for the competition to try to get here before six if possible, if that's not possible since it's on a Monday, it's going to be really easy if you come to church on Sunday we can set it up and just, you can have your chili maybe on warm overnight through the next day you have to accommodate for that make sure it won't ruin it or dry it out or whatever, I don't know that much about cooking chili, but it's in the slow cooker so it should be good to sit overnight if that's going to be helpful, or you could even have it ready and even put it in the fridge and we can start it up, but if we do that, I don't know, do we have enough time to do that Les? Does that make sense? Or is that not a good idea to have it in the fridge? There won't be enough time to heat it up before the, yeah Alright, so scratch that like I said, I'm not the expert I just remember, I know that it does take a while to warm up, so if you want to bring that chili Sunday night, and we could plug it in here and it'll just be ready to go put it on low or on warm or whatever you want to do and it could stay on all night and be ready for the cook-off, so because I want things to start promptly at 6 you know, between 6 and 6.15, I want all the judging like, kind of beginning, so that is the goal, that's why I'm mentioning this some of the rules with chili cook-off, you cannot buy store bought chili and submit that as your own, okay, it's not allowed I know you may have a favorite chili that you love and think, oh man, they don't have this in Georgia and I'm gonna buy this up and I'm gonna no, no, you can't go buy anyone else's chili okay, you gotta make it your own, I mean I'm not gonna get into, it doesn't have to be you know, you have to necessarily soak your own beans or whatever, maybe you don't put beans in, I don't care, just make it yourself, add your own seasoning, add your own spices, I mean that's the whole point is to bring your own chili everyone's welcome to enter in the competition, if you enter you cannot be a judge, if you would like to submit for being a judge make sure that if someone in your family is submitting a chili, that you don't have any interaction with that chili, so you'd have no way of being biased towards one entry over another and I think, I mean it's pretty simple, we have a lot of extra food here some hot dogs and cornbread and whatever, a bunch of things to go on the side to eat this chili on that day and then we'll also have some fun and games fellowship time, so it should be a lot of fun it's October 31st, it is not a Halloween party, okay it's not a dress up Halloween thing, we're not celebrating Halloween, it's actually just an alternative to do something wholesome and fun for the family and to get together and basically just kind of avoid all of the stuff that's going on with the not so subtle Satan worship that goes on in this country on October 31st, so that is the plan for that Monday did we, Leslie do we need to get a, was this what I was asking for who thinks they're planning on coming to this, to the chili cook off, whether or not you're submitting anything, I just want to get an idea of how much food we should we should be preparing are you seeing this Leslie? thank you, I count about roughly like 45 people so we just want to make sure we don't over buy with the food and stuff and just have a bunch of leftover hot dogs, stuff like that so very good, well I'm looking forward to that it's always a lot of fun and it's always very tough competition too so get your be preparing your chili now to enter and take home that prize, we give out prizes too so you know it's not just the glory of getting first place you get a prize for winning I think we do first, second and third place so yeah, submit a chili you never know, you might win December 10th, gingerbread houses and Christmas caroling more details about that as we get closer to that event and then the potluck between the church services on Christmas Sunday we're moving that evening service up a little bit to just essentially happen right after we're done eating and then we'll have the rest of the day on Christmas day to do as you please, whether you go soul winning or have other family or friends to visit or things like that that'll be up to you and then the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries for the month of September as well as for the beginning of October are listed there down at the bottom of the page and that is about it for our announcements, we do have that other building open now I apologize it wasn't open this morning earlier but it is open now for use for the restrooms I did get just a recap now or review where we're at with the project with the new building, I submitted the plan, they've reviewed the plan, they sent it back to me with four issues that they had and they're all I call them silly but there's a process you have to follow so they need to have particular information in a particular way a particular order all on the building plan whatever, all the red tape you gotta do things exactly the way they want it so I threw it back to our architect who did all the floor planning and everything he said he's gonna work on it this weekend and then get it back to us so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to resubmit that plan and then we should be good, I'm hoping we should get the green light, I'm also hoping it won't take them as long to review it since they've already reviewed it totally once, they should just be able to look over those four points, make sure we got those and then sign off on it and make sure that we're good so that's what we also, I also noticed this morning because I told them about the AC not working next door it is working now and it looks like we got a brand new AC unit which is really good because under the conditions of our lease, if our AC units go out that's on us, we are responsible for that not the landlord but since we're just now taking over this space he's giving us everything in working condition so that works out really well for us because these air conditioners are not cheap so that's very good news for us that's apparently that unit need to be replaced, they replaced it, no questions on us so I think that's it and as usual as always make sure parents you're with your children if you're gonna go into that room next door I don't want people any youths left over there unattended so please keep an eye on your children and make sure that if your children are in there that you are in there with them alright that's it for the announcement so I'm gonna start a service back over to brother Peter he's gonna lead us to our next song alright church if you can open up your hymnals to song number 161 song 161 our great savior song 161 on the first Jesus but afraid for sinners Jesus love my soul friends me say my name ah you say ah you say help me me please please Jesus what a great me myself tempted by sometimes my dream hallelujah what a savior hallelujah what a friend saving helping keeping loving he is with me to the end Jesus what a helping sorrow how the billows lord before even when my heart is breaking be my comfort helps my soul hallelujah what a savior hallelujah what a friend saving helping keeping loving he is with me to the end alright on the fourth we're gonna slow it down okay Jesus what a guy and keeper while the death is still is storms about the night foretakes me be my and fears my hallelujah what a savior hallelujah what a friend saving helping keeping loving he is with me to the end on the last Jesus I do now receive him lord and all in him I find he had granted me forgiveness I am his and he is mine hallelujah what a savior hallelujah what a friend saving helping keeping loving he is with me to the end in church we will sing of the centers of life our Sunday morning offering yes ushers please do that please in church while the offering plates are being passed around if you can open up your Bibles the book of Exodus chapter 24 that is the book of Exodus chapter 24 and as we do customary here at Strongwood Baptist Church we're going to read the entire chapter and that's brother Carter if he can please him once again that's the book of Exodus chapter 24 and he said unto Moses come up unto the Lord thou and Aaron Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel and worship ye afar off and Moses alone shall come near the Lord but they shall not come nigh neither shall the people go up with him and Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments and all the people answered with one voice and said all the words which the Lord hath said we will do will we do and Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and builded an altar under the hill and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel and he sent young men of the children of Israel which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord and Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar and he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people and they said all that the Lord had said will we do and be obedient and Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel and they saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness and upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand also they saw God and did eat and drink and the Lord said unto Moses come up to me into the mount and be there and I will give thee tables of stone and the law and commandments which I have written that thou mayest teach them and Moses rose up and his minister Joshua and Moses went up into the mount of God and he said unto the elders tarry ye here for us until we come again unto you and behold Aaron and her are with you if any man have any matters to do let him come unto them and Moses went up into the mount and a cloud covered the mount and the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai and the cloud covered it six days and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel and Moses went into the midst of the cloud and gave him up into the mount and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. Let's have a word of prayer. Brother Denzel would you mind praying for us please? Alright this morning the subject marijuana pre-china is the glory of the Lord the glory of the Lord and before we even get started with the glory it's a word that's used a lot I think and there's more than one definition for the word glory and both are used in the scripture and I just want to cover this and just make sure we have a good understanding of what glory actually means and it's kind of help us understand God a little bit better and these things the glory of the Lord is going to also show us some of the characteristics of the Lord as well so the glory the most common I think definition we use of glory people think of like getting glory unto themselves or glory and honor right someone goes off to battle and they win a great victory they get the glory right people they get the respect people look up to them they get the fame you know things like that a name being made known that is glory right and that's the most common usage of that term today and that term is very applicable in scripture in many verses talking about that glory you know God's name is made known far and wide God gets all the glory oh Jesus Christ gets the credit and the glory and the honor for everything that was done to pay for our sins for you know giving us that free gift of salvation and all the payment work and effort that he put into that he gets the glory for that right he gets the honor God's name is known widely for saving the children of Israel out of Egypt and you know with a strong arm brought them out and no doubt whatsoever he was responsible for all the salvation of the children of Israel as well so he gets the glory the credit the honor for that but there's another definition of the word glory we're going to focus a little bit more on and another definition of glory is brightness okay like a shining or a brightness now it makes sense why those two definitions when you think about them they go hand in hand so if you think of glory in a term of fame and honor and respect that way well it's that brightness that reaches out to many people which is why you get that glory of so many people around you that could be like oh wow this person did this or did that and you get that glory but we're going to see here very clear look down at verse number 15 in Exodus 24 the Bible says that Moses went up into the mount and a cloud covered the mount and the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai so even right there usually the word the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai like it's something physical that's there there's a presence there it's not just an abstract glory of like oh the respect of God was on the you know on the mount no there's actually something there something physical that they could actually see the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai and the cloud covered it six days and the seventh day he called out he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel so that's the sight this is what they see when they see the glory of the Lord it's like devouring fire it's just this consuming fire just up on the top of the mountain you know there's a cloud and then you see this this this devouring fire up on the top of the mountain that's the glory of the Lord now flip over if you would to first Corinthians chapter 15 we're just going to see a little bit more of biblical definitions of that word glory and the usage that I'm using here as far as the brightness is concerned first Corinthians 15 in the description of the resurrection and our resurrected bodies being different than our current physical fleshly bodies that we have this statement is made in verse 40 really verse 40 and verse 41 the Bible says there are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial so celestial would be of the heavens terrestrial is of the earth so you have heavenly bodies you have earthly bodies but the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another look at verse 41 there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars one star differth from another star in glory and that glory is that shining that brightness obviously the sun is the brightest thing in our sky that has the most glory and then you have the moon which also has a lot of brightness and shining but it's not as extreme as the sun and then you've got the stars you look up literally in heaven you can see the little dots of light they also have a glory and some stars are dimmer than others some are brighter than others and you can pick that up and see that with your eyes so all he's explaining here is that there's a different glory of the sun different glory here now obviously you can apply this the same way of saying there's you know not everyone has the same amount of glory with the other definition right there's the shining and brightness but there's a glory as of accomplishment and respect you know people have different amounts of glory as well and you can see again those two definitions kind of go hand in hand but don't miss out because a lot of people might not even understand what this is talking about if you don't know that the word glory there is talking about brightness I'll read this for you from Revelation chapter 18 turn if you would to Ezekiel chapter 1 Ezekiel chapter 1 I'm just trying to lay down the framework here before we get into a little bit more of the meat of what I want to discuss Revelation 18 1 the Bible says and after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory so literally this angel comes down shining and the earth is lightened like he's that light source comes down and says the earth is lightened from his glory his glory his shining his brightness is light lighting the earth so that's very clearly you have that definition in scripture here Ezekiel chapter 1 we're going to see we're starting in verse number 26 this is Ezekiel's vision of the glory of the Lord so this is you know Ezekiel sees his vision of heavenly things he sees these various creatures you know seraphim and describes all the different things that he sees look at verse number 26 the Bible says and above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne so this is the throne of God that he sees as the appearance of a sapphire stone and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it so he sees this this throne and then he sees what looks like a man sitting on the throne and I saw as the color of amber as the appearance of fire round about within it and what you're going to notice is anytime people get these images or visions of God you're going to find that the presence of fire like every time pretty much I mean there's always going to be some reference to a fire we saw in the Old Testament in the Exodus it's you know this devouring fire they saw on Mount Sinai when the Lord went with them and led them out of Egypt there's a cloud a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night over and over again we're going to see and I'm going to get to this in a minute I don't want to get too far ahead of myself is this reference to fire when we're talking about the presence of the Lord let's keep reading here though verse 28 as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain so was the appearance of the brightness round about this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord and when I saw it I fell upon my face and I heard a voice of one that spake so he also describes a rainbow right the brightness that comes from that rainbow against the black clouds against that black sky you have a real bright shining rainbow that's that's what he's describing seeing with this great brightness coming from the throne of God and it's in it's being described as fire right as well the fire is important now what I've found what it seems to be in scripture and I think one of the one of the main reasons why God is being described here as just when they see God they're seeing fire well great fire devouring fire is gonna invoke many things and people what it's gonna invoke fear you see a great devouring fire and I don't know how many people here have ever seen a raging fire that's like out of control right you ever seen a house fire you ever seen a wild fire especially you know back in Arizona we'd have wildfires and you see those things man it's like you don't want to get anywhere near that cause that fire spreads real fast and it's deadly devastating destruction right comes from that fire and what people need to realize about the Lord is that the Lord is being similar being represented here is being showing himself to the people a great devouring fire that ought to invoke fear in anyone that comes into the presence of the Lord and we have that I'm not gonna I didn't I don't have all the references here but anytime you see people that come into the presence of the Lord what do they do every single time without fail they fall down on their face and it's like they pretend like they're dead and this is coming from people who are men of God who love the Lord right who don't have a reason necessarily to be fearful as in an unsaved person should have right but they still have that fear of the Lord because we all ought to have that fear of the Lord because of who God is and we don't want to lose sight you know I preached on this before not too long ago just in general but we we don't want to get a false view of who God is and we never want to get to a place where we lose that fear you know what until we lose this fleshly body then perfect love can cast out fear because we won't have any opportunities to sin in a new sinless body but as long as we're in this sinful flesh and as long as we are being disobedient to the Lord we better have a fear of God right and that'll be a very healthy fear of the Lord and you know people are like oh I can't believe you're gonna say that about God that's not who God is God is love look God is love but also you better fear God you better have that healthy respect and fear and not just fear and not just the respect fear but fear and trembling okay and and this is you know I'll liken this to a family because a dad in the family ought to be someone who loves his children very much right and his children ought to know dad as love right dad loves me he's always there for me he's faithful he's reliable he's dependable he's gonna protect me he's there for me all the time dad's never gonna leave me or forsake me dad's always there that's how a human father should be in this world to his children and his children should know him as just man my dad loves me he does things for me he watches out for me but at the same time simultaneously the children ought to have a fear of dad going man I know dad's there I know he loves me he's there for me everything but I better not do this or do that against what he said cause oh man dad's gonna come down on me cause that's what a loving father does and we're born again children of god we need to have that proper fear of the lord and he represents himself as this great devouring fire it's an unquenchable fire this is how he showed himself to moses in the burning bush right and I would submit this you know people who don't know the lord what's one of the most important first things they need to realize about god he's a devouring fire that's one truth that every unsaved person needs to get through their heads right away because if you don't think that you have a problem because of your sin then you have no need for a savior there's no reason for it now look I'm all about the good news and the gospel 100% but if people don't realize that they're in trouble they have no need of a savior they have no need of the good news unless they know about the bad news first and this is why I think god reveals himself as fire so that everybody there's no doubt about it there's no question hey look god is real god is serious god has a law and if you've broken it there's consequences bottom line for everybody and when people that don't know the lord first come to see the lord you know he's representing himself as a burning fire moses now again I'm not going to state whether or not moses was saved at this point doesn't matter it's inconsequential but for the reference of what this is teaching us moses first is introduced to the lord when he's seized that burning bush right oh let me go see what this is all about and he sees this bush and it's burning but it's not consumed it's still there it's just just burning right which is also symbolic of hell because souls that go to hell they are in an eternal state of burning and are never consumed they never go away they never just destroy or go to nothing or go to ashes people who are in hell continue to burn and burn and burn and burn just as that bush just continued to burn and burn and burn and burn and burn that moses saw and he's just like wow this is amazing I mean this thing's just still burning that is the number one thing that people need to understand first hell's real if I was in Exodus 3 I'll just read this for you you could turn if you would to turn everybody to Deuteronomy chapter 4 Deuteronomy chapter 4 so and then you know he hears right so then God speaks to him he comes to see he comes to the Lord he sees this burning bush but God is revealing himself to him by fire by this flame Deuteronomy 4 verse 23 the Bible says take heed unto yourselves lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which he made unto you and make you a graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire even a jealous God and I think that's another reason you know potentially why God is revealing himself as fire is just so people wouldn't be as tempted to make the graven images and stuff right instead of showing himself in form of any other type of form it's a fire now I'm not saying obviously people can just go and try to make any representation or image that they want of God but you know we ought not to be doing that I mean the Bible commands us not to and he's saying you know this that fire in itself I mean if you're going to make a graven or molten image of fire to represent God it's not it's not sinking in right I mean if you're going to he's like at least if I'm going to show myself this way maybe they'll stop what they're doing when they actually think about like wait what am I doing God's a fire like maybe I should take heed here because God is a jealous God and doesn't want us doing this or else I'm in deep trouble like the fire itself when you're making you should be like yeah I don't really want to have anything to do with this fire I think I won't make this molten image or this graven image right but this statement here in Deuteronomy 424 for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire this is exactly what Hebrews 13 or 12 says excuse me Hebrews 12 28 says wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire serving God acceptably the way God wants us to serve him not the way that you think in your heart he ought to be served no the way God said he wants to be served it's what's acceptable unto the Lord with reverence which is great respect I mean think about the word reverence if you revere something you hold it very dear very close in your heart right you have a lot of love and respect and that's how we ought to be treating our service to God well we serve God hey treat God accept you know that service acceptably and with reverence with respect understanding what it is and hold it dear and dear to us and godly fear and why do we have to have all these things because our God is a consuming fire that's how he's represented himself in the past that's how he shows himself this is who God is let's remind ourselves of who God is and serve God even though we can't see the mount on fire as if that's you know if we had that sight all the time planted in our brains we might we might do things a little bit differently if that vision is just kind of in your mind like man God's God doesn't play God is not mocked right we ought to remember who God is and not be deceived now look of course God has mercy and long suffering absolutely absolutely and I'm gonna mention every time I talk about the the fearful side of the Lord we balance that as well with the the loving side of the Lord but don't ever lose sight of either and the way that God could have chosen to represent himself in more of a loving fashion to everybody but he didn't he chose to represent himself as fire and instill fear in people and get that through people's heads first and foremost number one important so when he's showing himself to the children to the people to all the people it invokes fear now another aspect of glory and another aspect even of fire itself besides instilling that fear and that respect and the power that that mightiness of the Lord through that fire it also provides light and the glory of the Lord that shining provides light and turn if you would to first John chapter one it's that great brightness which is another key attribute of God, God is a God of light God brings light, God brings the truth John 3 16 for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his son in the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God then verse 19 says and this is the condemnation that light is come into the world light's come into the world and man loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil you have two responses when you see that great light first you're going to see that great fire right and realize hey there ought to be some fear instilled there but then also understand hey that this fire is going to provide a lot of light there's a lot of brightness shining but it's going to expose your deeds God will expose your deeds what your actions are what you do don't choose to love darkness rather than light because your deeds are evil if your deeds are evil repent if your deeds are evil get right instead of wanting to cling to that and stay in darkness because if you choose to just say nope I want to just love my sin and I want to stay away from God you're going to be in darkness I mean it's that simple and you're going to stumble and fall and have all manner of problems in your life look at 1 John chapter 1 verse number 5 the Bible reads this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all so the glory of God is so bright that there is no darkness in him at all I mean think about the most bright thing that we could see is the sun and to us it's just like I mean that's like a blinding light if you're looking to it but even the sun has what sun spots aren't there parts of the sun that are dark and then parts that are bright well you know what God is not like the physical sun his brightness exceeds all brightness all glory that there is absolutely no darkness in the Lord at all if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin turn if you would to John chapter 1 now and the light God being the light what does the light do it sheds light on what on darkness light uncovers darkness light's gonna uncover the truth light's gonna show you things as they are light is gonna reveal the mysteries the dark secrets light will shine on everything so that you can see everything clearly which is why we look to the Lord and his guiding light because there is no darkness in that if we go to man you know if man has Christ there is a light there right but you also have a flesh so we don't have the same light that God has that there is no darkness in him at all we have a light because of Christ but then we also have our flesh so we have lots of room for error lots of room for not being able to see clearly like you know which is why we want to seek to walk in that light as much as possible first John chapter 1 is explaining hey look if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth and he's telling him this because it's possible to have Christ and still walk in darkness by sinning by you know by not doing what the Lord would have but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ the son cleanses us from all sin now look at John chapter 1 because Jesus is the light he's the light of God verse number one about in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men that life is the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not there was a man sent from God whose name was John the same came for a witness to bear witness of that of the light that all men through him might believe he was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world Jesus Christ is that light is that lighteth every man that cometh into the world the light of Christ shines unto everybody and it's there the darkness doesn't comprehend it which is also why God has given man the job of helping other people to understand it and understand the truth oh wow the light's actually a good thing you want to go to the light you want to accept the light it's good for you it's going to help you you don't want to keep stumbling around in darkness get the truth get the eyes that can see which we're going to look at now real quick here and go back to Exodus 34 we're going to see what happened with Moses Moses spent a lot of time with God and he spake to God face to face like a man speaks into his friend this is what the Bible records when Moses was communing with the Lord in Mount Sinai he went and received the law he received the Ten Commandments he was receiving everything that God had for him he was receiving all that direction and he communed with the Lord just Moses and God just up there and he's like face to face with them and as a result of Moses spending so much time so close to God right there with God he's fasting 40 days and 40 nights he's up there he's not thinking about he's not doing anything else he is 100% just serving God and right there next to God and as a result of that what happened to his face the Bible says his face shone he received some of that glory of the Lord just from being so close to that glory it's like the glory of the moon the moon doesn't produce its own light it reflects the light of the sun but the sun shines on that moon and then that reflects off so we can look at the moon and see the glory but the glory isn't the moon's glory it's still the sun's glory make sense? and those of us that are gonna get real close to the sun you get close to the S-O-N you can have some of that glory reflect off of you onto others just as it did with Moses it wasn't Moses' goodness that he's shining from it was him receiving the glory of the Lord which is bouncing back off of his face verse 27 Exodus 34 the Bible says the Lord said unto Moses write thou these words for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel and he was there with the Lord drink water now think about that you can fast from food for 40 days and 40 nights and that's tough I've never done it before I mean that's a long fast okay I struggle with a couple days 40 days a long time but look people have done it okay people have made this fast they've done it you know it's difficult but everybody who does this fast is drinking cause if you don't you're gonna die right so I don't recommend you trying to take a fast where you're not drinking but here's the thing Moses got so close to the Lord the Lord sustained him when he fasted it makes a point to say he didn't eat or drink because he was so close to I mean imagine being so close to God so close to God he didn't eat he didn't drink he didn't have any it's kinda like what Jesus said hey when I was with you you didn't have need yo you didn't need your purse your script your you know like you didn't need money you didn't need anything other than the shoes on your feet and just go we're gonna get up and go because as long as you're with Christ he's gonna provide everything for you it's another picture of the same thing you get close to Jesus I was all with Christ hey great you don't need anything cause you're walking right there with God Moses is forty days forty nights it says and he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant the ten commandments verse twenty nine and it came to pass when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses hand when he came down from the mount that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shown while he talked with him Moses had no idea I mean he's just there eating up everything that God's got for him he has no idea that his face started to shine it says in verse thirty and when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses behold the skin of his face shown and they were afraid to come night now now they're even afraid to get close unto Moses they saw the fire of the Lord and they were afraid and for good reason now they're starting to see you know God's brightness and God's glory shine off Moses to the point now they're starting to fear Moses and there is a healthy fear of the man of God also when a man of God is close to God when a man of God is right with God when a man of God is preaching like these prophets preached right and is just declaring the word of the Lord you know there ought to be a healthy fear of the man of God as well and notice when I don't have this in my notes either but for example when Samuel came people kind of feared they're like uh are you coming peaceably right people tread lightly when Samuel came why because Samuel had hewed a gag and you know like that's one of the reasons okay he's just like he was no not playing around either but why did he hew them because God said so because because he was willing to follow all the Lord's commandments one hundred percent to a T he was willing to say you know what God said this so we're doing this Saul you know you want to spare some people you don't want to actually go follow through with all the commandments of the Lord he's like you know what we're doing this and Samuel invoked fear in people like oh man Samuel's coming down what did we do right and there's there's truth to that and when we see here Moses was so close to God I mean he's literally just bringing them exactly the word of the Lord he's got God's word he's got that message for them and they see that the glory of God is on him and now they're going like whoa so much so let's keep reading here look at verse number 31 and Moses called on them and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned on him and Moses talked with them and afterward all the children of Israel came nigh and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai until Moses had done speaking with them he put a veil on his face but when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him he took the veil off until he came out and he came out and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses that the skin of Moses face shone and Moses put the veil upon his face again until he went in to speak with him why because they were afraid because that's the way that they could handle receiving the message that Moses gave them they're like well at least cover your face up Moses that's a little too much for us give us the message but we don't want to see that glory and that brightness it's too much we're kind of freaked out by it Moses so we put the veil over his face in order to deliver that message and there's so much symbolism here and we're going to go flip over if you would to 2 Corinthians 3 we're going to see the New Testament explanation of this because there's a lot here but understanding this glory the glory of the Lord I mean this is awesome okay this is great we're going to wrap things up here it's not going to be a super long sermon we're going to finish up in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 but when I think about all the things that are going on with Moses he had to put his covering over his face so they wouldn't see that glory but they were still receiving the message alright I don't want to get ahead of myself let's let the Bible do the speaking here and then I'll expound a little bit more look at verse number 7 of 2 Corinthians chapter 3 the Bible says but if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones now what's this ministration of death it's the law okay and you can read this later in context of all of 2 Corinthians here but the law why is it the ministration of death because we only know sin by breaking the law right and the wages of sin is death so this is the ministration of death the law now look the law is great and the law is glorious the law has its own shining its own beauty its own respect its own glory honor everything the law is great the Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul God's law is great it's good just because we're sinners it doesn't make the law bad but it is the ministration of death written and engraven in stones it says if the ministration of death written engraven in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which glory was to be done away how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious so now this is comparing the old testament with the new testament they're saying that old covenant was so glorious I mean it was so bright they couldn't even stand to see Moses face and that's the old covenant that's the one that's done away it's so great and so magnificent they couldn't even stand to see it in all its full glory they couldn't stand to have all of it they had to have some type of a barrier something to go between them and that glory because it was too much for them it says if the ministration of condemnation be glory verse 9 much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory so how much brighter is that new testament he's saying that's to be done away and they couldn't even handle that for even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth so what this is saying is for as glorious as the law was in so much that they had to have a veil there separating between he says that all of that glory was like nothing like there's no brightness when that's put in comparison to the new covenant that's how far the new covenant exceeds in glory it's like you can't even tell that the other glory is there because of how great that new glory is I mean think about it you have something real bright and then something shines a lot brighter you won't be able to see that other thing there's a lot more stars that we can't even see with the naked eye out there because of other light that comes in you can't see there's object when you go outside and there's bright lights around you you don't see very many stars in the sky but when you go out to where there's no lights no city lights nothing like that you can see a lot more why it's because the glory of the close lights those brighter lights that are closer to us prevent you from being able to see the rest and that's what he's saying here is that that new covenant is so glorious you can't even see that other one the Old Testament verse 12 seeing then that we have such hope we use great plainness of speech and not as Moses which put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished but their minds were blinded for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament which veil is done away in Christ see the veil was there showing as long as you're trying to keep the law for your righteousness for your salvation you're blind you can't really see what's the end of the law well that ministration of death what the end of the law is supposed to be it's supposed to point you to Christ the law is a schoolmaster to point you to Christ to that new covenant and it always has been but when you've got the veil there people get blinded by just thinking you can follow the law and that that is what's going to save you but you need Christ to take away that veil so you can see clearly and then you have a good understanding of what the law is and that oh man I'm a sinner right and this is going to lead me to a savior this is actually going to lead me to God the law leads you to God that's why the law was glorious to begin with it should lead you to God but the greater glory is that saving the greater glory is that salvation that saving covenant the first covenant is glorious it should bring you to God it's going to give you the truth it's going to help you to have all this great light to light your path to how you ought to live how you ought to walk but the most important part of that is it ought to lead you directly to God but if you still have that veil in front of your face you're not going to be there you're not going to get to commune with the Lord the only way you're going to get that veil removed is through Christ because Christ symbolizes the removing of that veil it says in verse 14 I don't know if I read this or not I think I did but their minds were blinded for until this day remained at the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament which veil is done away in Christ he's saying they're still blind even in this day they're reading the old covenant and they don't get it they don't understand it they don't really want to see the end well the end is Christ he's saying the veil is taken away through Christ but even in this day when Moses is read the veil is upon their heart nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord the veil shall be taken away now the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord so this last verse I'm going to expound this real quick it will be done it says we all with open face no veil beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory we go from the glory of the old testament law to the glory of the new testament covenant of the savior of salvation by grace through faith so we go from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord because the spirit of the Lord where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty he sets us free from the bondage and the curse of the law glory of the Lord is fascinating God is magnificent God is bright that old covenant is still bright it still is a lamp to light your path it still is there to instruct us and tell us what to do but how much brighter is salvation by grace through faith is the freedom from the curse of that law that just outshines everything don't neglect that first brightness and that shining to help you and see what it's good for because the law of the Lord is good it's very good for us but make sure you've got that much greater glory as well so that you can properly see the end of that and what it's good for what the law is good for us and have that good understanding knowing hey this isn't going to save my life knowing hey this isn't going to save my soul but this is going to keep me in good standing with God now that I'm saved and a child of God I'm going to do what's right I'm going to obey God's commandments because this actually is here for my benefit not for my harm as far as I've ordered prayer dear Lord we love you, thank you so much for teaching us the truth from your word I pray that you please help us understand more about you, about your character dear Lord about who you are that you would help us to have the proper reverence and respect that we ought to dear Lord not to be forgetful of who you are as we maybe get comfortable in our lives and especially Lord God forbid if we were to get comfortable in our sin God help us not to be just comfortable in our sin but have that refresher that you've shown yourself to be a devouring fire and that we ought to serve you acceptably and that we ought to serve you with godly fear and reverence in our heart dear Lord knowing that you're consuming fire and I pray that you would please help us to be motivated to reach other people and help them to see one who you are with the consuming fire but then also that greater glorious light of the gospel dear Lord help us to shine that light we love you it's in Jesus name we pray Amen alright we're gonna sing one last song before we're dismissed brother Peter please lead us alright church if you can open up your windows song number 262 song number 262 the light of the world is Jesus song 262 alright church let's sing this out nice and loud the whole world was lost in the darkness of sin the light of the world the light of the world is Jesus like sunshine at noon and his glory shone in the light of the world is Jesus come to the light it's shining for thee sweetly the light has dawned upon me once I was blind but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus no darkness have we moved in Jesus above the light of the world is Jesus we walk in the light when we follow our guide the light of the world is Jesus come to the light it's shining for thee sweetly the light has dawned upon me once I was blind but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus he dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes the light of the world is Jesus come watch at his bidding and fight the long the light of the world is Jesus come to the light it's shining for thee sweetly the light has dawned upon me once I was blind but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus on the last no need of the sunlight the damage we're told the light of the world is Jesus the wind is the light in the city of gold the light of the world is Jesus come to the light it's shining for thee sweetly the light has dawned upon me once I was blind but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus come watch at his bidding and fight the long the light of the world is Jesus come to the light it's shining for thee sweetly the light has dawned upon me once I was blind but now I can see the light in the city of gold the light of the world is Jesus