John K. Jenkins Sr - Financial Freedom Series: More Than Enough

This is, um, part 12. Is that right? Part 12 is the final installment. Today is for real- the last part. This is the last part of my financial challenge to you today. Good, um, Exodus 40. I want you to turn your Bibles to Exodus 40, and I’m going to, uh, read verses 34 and 35. Then I’m going to make references throughout this message to several other passages in Exodus, so I just need you to take notes. Don 't try to turn to these other passages; just write them down when you get an opportunity.

You notice in the history and the story of Israel they had been slaves. God raises up Moses, and Moses leads them out of the wilderness. They 're headed to a Promised Land — a land that God promised them-and it takes them 40 years to get there. That 's another message altogether. But while they’re on their way, chapter 40, verses 34 and 35 say, «Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the Tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.» Stick a pin right there; I want to shout because they experienced God’s presence filling the Tabernacle so much so that Moses couldn’t even go in and do what he needed to do.

Now, if you’ve been a part of this church long enough, you know that we’ve had seasons and times when God’s glory filled this Tabernacle. People got saved, people got delivered, people got healed, and in some occasions, I’ve never even had the opportunity to preach. I couldn’t even go forward with preaching because God’s glory filled the Tabernacle. I don’t know where y’all are, but I want to hang out at a place where God feels comfortable coming.

The question is, what occurred that welcomed the presence of God to come into this tent, to this Tabernacle that they were building? Once they finished the building and stuff, God showed up and manifested Himself. There 's nothing like having God show up in the midst of your journey, your life, your challenges, your problems. I celebrate the fact that the pastor said Moses couldn’t even go into the temple; he couldn’t even make his way into the Tent of Meeting. The glory of God was so thick, so heavy, that he couldn’t even do it.

And the question I want to ask, since I know lives get changed and people get saved and God gets glorified and your children get turned around and your heart gets changed-what happened that welcomed God into the temple? Talk about us, y’all; you’re supposed to say, «I want to know what happened!» Yeah, I want to know what attracted God’s glory. What was going on that caused the presence of God to fill the temple?

I’m glad y’all asked the question. Let me lay down the circumstances. Here 's the first thing I want you to see; write this down. Here 's number one: they had decided to build a temple that would be, listen to this, dedicated to ministering to God. Yeah, I know I was going to have to tell y’all that three or four times before you got it. They wanted to build a tabernacle, a temple, a place where what went on in the Tabernacle would be ministry to God. I know that went over some of y’all’s heads; y’all didn’t get it.

See, a lot of y’all come to church because you want to be ministered to, but did you not know God gives us the opportunity to minister to Him? Amen! That 's a significant deal; it’s a very important thing that we are in a place that God feels ministered to. Now how do we do that? I’m glad you asked the question. Let me tell you what ministry to God means. It means, number one, underneath it here, that God establishes a place for Him to dwell-a dwelling place for God, a place for Him to hang out. Exodus 25:8, jot that verse down: Exodus 25:8.

A place that God dwells, a dwelling place for the Almighty God. Exodus 25:8, what does it say? It says, «And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.» Now maybe you don’t find that exciting, but that blesses me. That makes me want to shout that God says, «I want to make a place where I can hang out, where I can dwell.» I like that word «dwell.»

Let me stick a pin right there for just a moment-a place where God dwells. Now y’all missed it; it went over your head. I’ve got to break it down for you. I’ve got to break everything down for you. What happens in the Old Testament is a prelude, a type, a symbol of what God’s going to do in the future. So when He’s with the children of Israel and He says, «I want to create a tabernacle; I want them to build me a tabernacle where I can dwell,» what He is essentially saying is that that’s just a foretaste of what I’m going to do when He comes and dwells in you. Come on, y’all missed a great spot to say amen!

I think this is important; I think it’s significant because y’all keep talking about going somewhere to meet God when I came to church.