【Bible Study】Exodus 25: Build the Tabernacle According to God's Revelation So That God Will Dwell Among Us

Pastor Samuel Sharing

Bible Study: Exodus


Introduction

Good morning everyone, today we are looking at Exodus chapter 25. Time is moving pretty fast, and all of a sudden we realize that we are halfway through the book of Exodus. Exodus is one of the books in the Bible that is difficult to study, as we don't know what it's talking about. In the past years, we have avoided Exodus. Because most of the time we just do not know what it is talking about.

After many years of Bible study in Genesis, then Deuteronomy and Numbers, we finally come to Exodus. After studying 24 chapters of Exodus, we discover that there's a hidden treasure here.

the Army of God build the Tabernacle with God’s presence

In Exodus, we are talking about the Army of God that came out of Egypt. The Army of God was not building a nuclear bomb or very advanced weapons. They were building a Tabernacle. Can the Tabernacle be the weapon to fight against the people in the region? This is something we must understand. As a soldier in the Army of God, you are not fighting the battle with the power of the horses, or the chariot. You are not fighting the enemy with very advanced weapons. But with the presence of the Lord!

After 3500 years, have the rules been changed for the modern churches? No! The fundamental rules for the churches have not been changed. If you want to be a part of the Army of God and you want to defeat the devil and the spiritual enemy, you need the presence of Almighty God. We need the presence of Almighty God. If you want to build a Tabernacle, you'd better build a Tabernacle with the presence of Almighty God. So this is the issue. We will need to build a Tabernacle with the presence of Almighty God with God dwells amongst us. If God is not dwelling amongst us, then what are we doing?

Many years ago, before I started studying Exdos, I had this fundamental idea of building a church. If I was going to build a church, I needed a church with the presence of Almighty God. That's why we have **transformed the church to be a church of prayer, a church with God's presence. ** If any of you wonder how God can be amongst us, just refer to the Bible that says building the church according to the revelation of God. Therefore, you build a Tabernacle, you build it according to the revelation of Almighty God, and then God will dwell amongst us.

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. (Exodus 25:8-9)

What is the result of God dwelling amongst us? Can that be something that makes a living? It's much more than just making a living. Can that be our livelihood? Can that be our day-to-day life? What can I do with that?

Fundamental rules of spiritual realm

Let me tell you what the fundamental rules are. The fundamental rules are so clear. If you win the battle in the spiritual world, you will win in the physical world. If you win in the spiritual realm, you will win the battle in the physical realm. The physical realm is a shadow of the spiritual realm. You may ask "Can that solve my financial problem? Can that solve my livelihood problem?" The answer is definitely yes!

Let me share a story with you. Many years ago, I was so desperate to find a job to make my ends meet. It was an extremely desperate situation. I sent out many resumes, waited and waited, just had no luck with interviews, and nothing happened. I didn't know what else I could do.

Then one day, I said to myself that I could not prolong like this any longer, I got to look for a God who could help me. So I walked into a church and worshipped the Lord without knowing Him. Do you know what happened? I got a job!

After getting the job, my boss told me that giving me the job was a miracle. I thought to myself why it was a miracle. How come it was a miracle? My boss told me that I was not qualified for the job. Oh my God! Yes, I knew I was not qualified. As you know, working in a foreign country, the fundamental requirement is to speak the language. Then I needed to speak English which I could not. When I spoke Chinese, they did not understand, likewise, I did not understand English either. I did not understand how I was going to work as I was not qualified after all.

My boss received resumes from all over the place. Some people graduated from Imperial College, a famous university in the UK, as well as people who graduated from the National University of Singapore, one of the top universities. But you know what happened? My boss was a Christian, he turned to Christ a year before me. He got me the job with the help of God. After that, he had tasted the sweetness of the presence of God, and he found a staff who could help him solve technical problems.

How did he give me the job? On the first day, he laid his hand on the pile of resumes, and God spoke to him and told him to recruit this guy, which was me. In this amazing manner, God spoke to him and he could hear the word of God. The next day, he prayed again, and the same things happened. And the third day, the same thing again. So I got the job.

Could God give me a job? Yes. If you need a job, you'd better have God. When you have God's presence, nothing is difficult. If you need to fix technical problems, you need God. If you need to make a living, you need God, you need the presence of God. That is so amazing!

Can you hear what I am saying? I know a lot of young people think they will become lazy after they have God. No No No! If you have God with you, you are not going to be lazy. If you are lazy because you are not having God with you. God commanded us to build a Tabernacle so He could dwell among us as clearly states in chapter 25.

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

These are the Army of God!

Understanding demons’ work and win over them

Let me tell you a secret that you need to pay attention to. If you defeat a demon and then you defeat the devil, do you know what happened? The devil cannot steal your blessing anymore. Can you hear that? Because one day, I was casting out the demon and the demons started to talk to me, just like a chi chat. Sometimes I find it so interesting that the devil can speak.

You may wonder how the devil can speak. They speak through the mouth of the possessed one. The devil said, " I am so busy." "What are you busy with?" "Oh, I'm so busy trying to get money." "How do you get money?" " I'm wandering around the hospitals, going in and out of the hospitals to collect money." Oh my God, they are collecting money in hospitals. Are you hearing that? They can make a couple of millions one day. Huge amounts of money! People are trying to push the money into hospitals to get good service, hospitals are competing for good service.

You'd better understand and pay attention to how hospital systems operate. Doctors from one of the famous hospitals are buying an expensive condo downtown. A lot of doctors buy expensive condos downtown. But where is the money from? It's from the patients!

I do not encourage you to follow my approach, but I will encourage you to give some thoughts on that. I do not like to be robbed by this kind of thing. I would rather figure out my approach. Some people say to let the professionals solve the professional problems. So let the doctors solve medical problems, let the accountants solve accounting problems, and let the lawyers solve legal issues.

Yes! What you have said is right, but I share a different view. Why? You'd better know that sickness comes from the spiritual world. Can you hear that? Because I know so many people don't believe it. Never mind if you don't believe it.

One day, a lady came to see me with a broken leg. The bone was broken so she could not walk, she had to drag her injured leg. After a couple of hours in my place, I did some teachings and I prayed for her, she then walked home. She came with one shoe, by the time she left, we had some food together and she went home with a brand new pair of slippers on her feet and all the bandages in her hand.

You have heard that you could save a lot of money. If you're not paying a medical bill, if you are not robbed by the illness, you will save a lot of money. How much do you spend on food? You spend very little as God provides.

In chapter 25, I give a long introduction that takes about 15 minutes, but why am I spending so long on this? Because we need God, we need God to dwell amongst us. If we have God dwell among us and have God’s presence with us. Do you know what happened? We can solve a lot, a lot of problems from the spiritual world. Many problems we encountered came from the spiritual world. I am talking about the spiritual world to Christians who believe in God, not to scientists.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is God and He said to preach the gospel, cast out the demons, and heal the sick. Do you hear that? If you hear that, you will know that sickness, casting out demons, and healing the sick is part of the gospel. Let me tell you if God dwells among us, it would be worth more than money, business, and a good job when we are in our Lord Jesus Christ. In the presence of God and in the sanctuary of God are worth more than food, your job, business and any other opportunities.

God’s presence number 1: Bring offerings

How to build a Tabernacle with God’s presence? Number one you and I have to remember how to build a Tabernacle with God’s presence is to bring the offerings from people with the right attitude. Your heart is where your money and riches are, where your treasures are. God said to Moses to tell the Israelites to bring Him an offering and Moses had to receive the offering from everyone whose heart was prompted to give. Our hearts need to have a heart of giving.

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. Exodus 1:1-2 NIV

That is a very important verse. In the early days, when I was building the church, I was telling people I was preaching about Jesus. My reaction was “Forget it, man, it will not work.” Do you know that was humiliating God? God was humiliated by me. God was angry with me for this kind of attitude. Yes, I did bring offerings and good food to the church. I cooked good food for the church and many people rush into the church for food but not for God. Do you know what happened? The church had attracted a lot of people who wanted to take advantage of the church. They came to the church for food. After a while, I realized that was not working and I would get cursed eventually. I was building a church with the wrong approach, it was very crucial and very damaging but in the early days, I did not know.

Due to my ignorance, I had my own idea on how to build a church. I thought preaching Jesus would not attract people but scrumptious food such as chicken, beef and ham would attract many people into the church. Absolutely I attracted many people to the church who came to eat but not to do offerings. Are you with me? Later on, the church ran into a lot of problems because there was no God’s presence only the presence of people who wanted to eat.

At that time, I repented and changed my way by building a church with God’s presence. I took away all the food and replaced bottles of mineral water. I went to the wholesale shop to purchase cartons of mineral water and some soft drinks in the church. My requirement for them was to throw a dollar for a bottle of mineral water or a can of soft drinks. Come on. This is the place to train people to do the offering.

This is the place that trains people to donate, offer themselves and be a service to others. This is the place to train people to be a blessing to others. How can we attract people like that? Let me tell you, only those who are willing to sacrifice and bring the offerings. There might not be many people who were willing to sacrifice but if there were one or two, they were also counted as God would prompt their hearts to give. In that group of people who gave that would form a church with God’s presence. I changed my mind to build a church with God’s presence.

There were some people who had bad habits of bringing rubbish to the church. They would bring their unwanted items to the church as their donation. Do you see them quite often? I am sure you had seen them before. In Singapore, we have “Karung Guni” which in Malay means scrap collectors or rubbish collectors. “No, no, no, no, no. The church is not a place to collect your rubbish but a place to receive gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet yarn, fine linen, gold hair, ram skins dyed red, and other durable leather, acacia wood, olive oil for the light; spices for anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece.

These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. Exodus 25:1-3 NIV

There were so many good things mentioned in verses 1-3 offerings to be received. The church is not a place for a garage sale, to come for food, collecting rubbish, collecting old items, and distributing rubbish but a place to receive good and valuable things. The Church is not a place to accept people who came to take advantage of the church. The church is the place to give and train people to be a blessing for this age. Number one, you are going to remember the church is the place to do offerings. Do you know after we changed, we saw the presence of God? God restored the church with His presence and many people came with their sicknesses healed in the church. It was so effective than before. It was almost like what was mentioned in the bible, in the book of Matthew and Luke. It should be like that

God’s presence number 2: Covenant with God

I always tell my church members; “Oh my brothers and sisters, you are going to save a lot of medical bills and you are also saving yourself a lot of suffering on the sick bed. You are going to save in a lot of problems and miseries.” The devil cannot rob you of your financial blessings. The devil cannot steal and destroy you anymore because God’s presence is in the church. Number one is God’s presence and Number 2, there is the Ark of the covenant. Covenant is a word heavier or holier than the word “contract“. Covenant is when a man agreeable something with God and God also agreeable something with a man. Covenant is a spiritual covenant. The ark of the covenant and what was kept in it? It was the tablet of the covenant law. Someone mentioned that it can be called the holy agreement which is a good phrase to use.

If you read the book of Exodus, the tablet of the covenant law was the foundation. If you bring the heart of offerings and you comply with the law of the covenant. The book of Exodus had the fundamental of the ten commandments. If you obey the ten commandments, all the words from God, and do you know what happened? God will bless you and the Army of God needs the blessing from God. How does it work? We cannot breach the covenant and if we breach the covenant, we will fall into the curse.

In the Ming Ding Doctrine or the Doctrine of Destiny, you will slowly learn to say these new words. Hopefully, one day it will be collected in the Oxford dictionary. I am teaching you a new word, a new Chinese word Ming Ding and some people might say, I do not understand the word. One day, you will understand the word. It was like a few years ago, you did not know Huawei and now you know who is Huawei? It also applied to README, in the beginning you did not know and now you know README. The founder of Xiao Mi produced the Mi band, not the Me band. Eventually, you will get to know the Ming Ding Doctrine.

**The Doctrine of Ming Ding is talking about the two basic concepts either you are living in the curse or you are living in the blessings.**If you are living under the blessing and you are blessed. If you are living under the curse and you will be cursed. This is how it works. Whether you are living under the curse or under the blessings, you better know it. You might say I do not know but you will know if you are suffering from financial hardship, there is a hole in your pocket in which you cannot keep your money. You will know something is wrong in your life especially when you checked your bank account you would see the amount of money below your expectations. Something is wrong.

On the contrary, if you see everything you are doing, you are blessed and you can see God’s presence is with you. How nice to have God’s presence with us? When we are living, we need God’s presence with us, we need to live under the covenant and obey the word of God. Every time, I met brothers and sisters in Christ, they were suffering from this and that so I told them bluntly that they were living under the curse. Come on. They would reply “ How can you curse me?” I was not cursing them as I was just telling them the truth. They reacted and said, “No, no, no, no, I am not living under the curse.”

They were willing to continue living under the curse but were not willing to get out from the curse. They were living under the curse and they did not want to hear people telling them they were living under the curse. What are they thinking? How funny can that be, right? Never mind, they can continue to dwell in the presence of the devil. They can keep on living not under the covenant and disobey God. You cannot disobey the word of God. You need to obey the word of God. How much have you obeyed the word of God?

There are many young people among us. When you are young and hear what I am telling you that it is better to live under the blessing. You are really fortunate to hear this at such a young age. Right? You read the bible, you are a Christian and you observe what kind of life would you choose? What kind of life would you want? We have to obey the word of God and obey all the words of God. Do not disobey even one word of God.

The tablet of the covenant law was kept in the ark of the covenant. Do you know what is the ark of the covenant? They put the two angels and their names called Cherubim. The two angels were covering the ark of the covenant and they were protecting the covenant. It was so holy and cannot be meddled with. You could not just come and said they were antique so I would collect them and put them on my bookshelf. Maybe one day, I could sell them for a lot of money. “No, no, no, that would be creating a lot of problems because that is a holy thing.”

The ark of the covenant was protected by the angels and you do not play around with angels. The angels do not care who you are if you are playing a fool with the covenant. The angels will cause some damage to you. Angels are the ones looking after the covenant and if you obey the covenant of God, the angels will protect you.

The spiritual laws are always the same!

If you mingle around with the covenant and try to disobey it. Do you know what will happen? The devil will come and mingle around with you. The devil will be attached to you. And often when I minister to people who are living under curses. They say that in the New Testament, there is no curse anymore. Are you sure? Are you sure that you read the Bible carefully? If you read Corinthians, Romans, or Galatians, there are a lot of curses. God never changes, curses and blessings have never changed. The fundamental rule has never been changed. If you pay attention and observe what’s happening around you or in you, then you will know that the spiritual world is real. The spiritual laws are still governing the whole world. God is eternal, God is the God of the Old Testament, and God is the God of the New Testament. The spiritual laws have not been changed at all.

Whether technology is advanced or not, it can not fix spiritual problems. Technology cannot bring blessings to people. This guy invented very advanced technology, but he got cancer. That guy created very good business models, but he also got cancer. Even though he has lots of money, he can not heal himself. I have a friend, who's so rich and his wealth is beyond our imagination. Do you know what happened? His younger brother got cancer at the age of 30 and passed away. He and his younger brother were so close that’s why it caused a lot of sorrow in his heart for years. He never got over his sorrows. He told the doctor to give the best treatment to his younger brother. But the doctor couldn’t do much about this.

The angel was looking after God’s covenant. If you want God’s presence in your church, you’d better do this. You can see that the angels are working so hard. Angels are the ones who work to protect the law of the covenant, the ark of the covenant. In the church, there will be a table for communion, and food on the table, so we can eat together with God. Isn’t it nice to have a meal with God?

How to Build A Tabernacle with God’s Presence (3): Holy Communion

If you take a flight for hours and come a long way to come to me, you know what I will do? I will take you to have a good meal, I will not take you to a restaurant that serves bad food. That is a relationship. If we eat the body of Christ, we are in one with Him. That is God’s presence. In the tabernacle, there is a table and food on it. God is so good, he put a table full of food. The table represents a relationship, a communion, a holy communion means ‘with God.’ It’s that kind of relationship.

In our relationship with God, we will move from one level to another. From the beginning, we are slaves, then we will become a servant, then we will become a friend, and then we will be promoted again to be the sons or daughters of Almighty God. This table represents a lot of things. It's a kind of relationship. We have to put the bread of the Presence before us at all times. When we build a church, we have to follow the same formula. The Old Testament is revealing a shadow, but the real thing is the church. The shadow outlines the whole thing.

This is the body of Christ. We are having a communion. We are in one. That’s what God wants us to have. Some people criticize my testimony. How I lay my hand on people and heal them. I have many stories and I'm always so excited to talk about them. But people tell me not to rob the glory of God. But the Glory of God is mine, and I belong to God so we are in one that's called a relationship. We are not separated, we are united in God. That’s how the church should work. I am so fortunate that over the years of struggling, I got into a situation like this, a situation where I have God’s presence. How nice is it?

I had a dream. A long time ago, even before I started a church, I had a question, “how come churches don’t have the presence of God?” I said: let me create a church with the presence of God. In this dream, I said, God, I want your presence, I want to lay my life before you, I came to this world to have a purpose to build a church with the glory of almighty God. It’s so wonderful, I believe that the road ahead of us will be filled with more exciting things, there will be more and more visible glory of Almighty God. You need to have a holy communion in your church, which represents the relationship. God will call me his friend and his son. I will have the key to heaven. I will be able to open the resources in heaven and open the door to a lot of hidden treasures in heaven. The power of Almighty God will be demonstrated and manifested among us. I will make all these things according to the pattern shown to us and Moses on the mountain “You have to do it according to what I told you, you have to do everything according to the instructions, the shape, material, and all these things.” You can not say, “How do we find this in the desert? How do we find that? It’s so troublesome.” No, it is not troublesome. It’s what we are supposed to do.

How to Build A Tabernacle with God’s Presence (4): Spirit of God

We have to use one talent of Gold to build a lampstand. A lampstand stands for spirit. Brothers and sisters, I am very serious about the word of God. I have written a lot of Bible study material, and I have written about 80 books within 9 years. I have written so much, I am so serious about this. Sometimes a friend of mine will come to my office, “Can I have this book?” Yes, you can take it for free. This is a place where we giveaway. This is the place where we aim to be a blessing for many people. We are hoping that more and more churches are having the dwelling of Almighty God, that more and more churches are following the word of God to build the church, to build the tabernacle of God. At this time, there are thousands of Churches like this, but it is still not enough for our people.

God’s Presence Is Our Weapon To Defeat Devils

There are so many needs. I have another dream: I want to see the glory of Almighty God fill up the earth, everywhere you can see the presence of God. How nice would that be? And I will be part of it! I will be promoting it, I will be a good salesperson for this. I am not selling insurance, I am selling the presence of God for free! Does it sound nice? I am promoting the doctrine of destiny, I am building a church with the presence of God, I am promoting it. Let’s gather together and share the same dream, move forward, and have the dream of God.

Let the glory of Almighty God fill the earth, and let us see a lot of problems being solved by the presence of God.

“See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” Exodus 25:40, NIV

God has shown to us and we have seen through the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We have seen how Jesus did things, and we follow him. God already revealed us through Apostle Paul and Jesus Christ. You just need to set up a church according to the revelation. A church that has God’s presence. The devil will flee, that is our strategic weapon, the weapon that can defeat the devil in the spiritual world. Wonderful isn’t it? So we will try to move forward and continue to make the sanctuary for God where He will dwell among us.

Ok, I will stop sharing. When I shared it with you, I was so excited. One day, God will deliver what he promised for all of us.

May the Lord bless you. See you next week.

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