Numbers 1/2/3/4 Bible Study (Census of Warriors/Levites Exempted/Aaron) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

And now we come into the book of Numbers. Verse one. The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, so we're in the same location, in the tent of meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. So what is the book of Numbers all about? The book of Numbers as an overview deals with the anticipated arrival of the nation of Israel from Mount Sinai to the borders of the land of Canaan, the promised land.

And what numbers deals with really is the journey experience. What numbers shows us is how God is going to lead these people, and if they walk obediently, they will find themselves and where God intended them to be. And it's it's a beautiful blend of instructions and laws and events that have profound messages for the church today, and really the book of numbers spans through a long period of time. Does anybody know how long the book of Numbers spans through? How many years?

Thirty eight years. The book of Numbers will deal with thirty eight years of the nation of Israel and in their walk with Yahweh. Thirty eight years. That's a long time. Do you think it takes thirty eight years to go from Sinai to the land of Canaan?

Exactly. Because we're gonna learn, unfortunately, that the same book is gonna show us why there is a delay and even an elimination of an entire generation to not go into the land of Canaan. The book of Numbers is going to show us why the first generation, though God intended and desired for them to come into the Promised Land, did not go into the Promised Land. Before we think that this is unrelated to the church, this is very much applicable to us. In fact, Paul the Apostle in first Corinthians ten:six, when he is describing these different sins, he goes on to say that these things, the events in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, these things were written for us that you may not desire evil as they did.

And so Paul takes the wilderness experience and journey found in numbers and says, hey, Christians, you and I are pilgrims. You and I are sojourners as well. And God has given us believers. God has given you and me the book of numbers to warn us that we may not crave, that we may not come to a place where our attitudes reflect their attitudes, and our decisions don't reflect their decisions. God has given us everything we need including warnings of real life events to say, be careful.

You don't need to go down that route. If you're craving things, if you're beginning to see yourself being drawn to certain aspects, and they're very specific in first Corinthians 10, he says, be careful. Go to numbers. So we come to this book and we see that in the first four chapters, that's what we're going to cover, the first four chapters, not verse by verse, all the way up to really chapter 10, you can argue, all of what God is about to instruct right now is in preparation for them to move forward. All that he's about to give, all these sentences and all these instructions are for the people to be prepared to go where God wants them to go.

And in these four first four chapters, we're gonna get out four lessons for how God wants us to be prepared, to move forward into where He wants us to be. What does the promised land signify? Many have think it's heaven, and I can see to some degree why. But I believe more it's where God wants you and I to come to in our in our life concerning our walk with him. If the wilderness journey speaks about transitional moments from Egypt to promised land, I believe promised land is where God wants his people to be concerning the fullness of his will, bearing fruit in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God.

This is where God wants us to be, tasting milk and honey in this side of heaven. So the first chapter deals with something so specific. Let's look at verse two. Take a census of all the congregation of the people Israel by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male head by head, from 20 years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them company by company. The rest of this chapter deals with creating a census for those 20 years old and up to make themselves ready for war.

Now think of this in light of being prepared to go where God wants them to go, And this is where it's applicable for you and me, that in order for us to go from one place to the other, specifically for God to lead us faithfully and for us to advance where he wants us to really be in this Christian experience, you and I must be willing to embrace warfare. You and I must realize that this is gonna be a fight and that we must be willing to take arms and we must be willing to determine within ourselves, Whatever it takes, I'm not gonna turn my back. And that is the Christian experience. And I love how that's the very first thing in Numbers. Realize this, it's gonna be a fight.

And there's gonna be some days that are gonna be really bloody. And there's gonna be some days where you're gonna have some surprise attacks on your life. There's gonna be some moments where these stretches of warfare will be longer than others. There's gonna be times where you're gonna feel like you wanna give up, but realize this, I am with you, And I am for you, and I will lead you. But you need to realize that this is gonna happen.

And that is so true of the Christian experience, so true of the Christian experience. And one of the hardest things about the Christian walk is that when you fight this fight, along the way sometimes, fellow soldiers are taken out. And unfortunately, we don't prepare people for this, and And when it comes to them, they all act surprised that there is actual warfare and that we are going to be attacked. And it's not gonna feel good, and it's actually going to be painful to some degree. I remember reading about a testimony of a guy who worked with Teen Challenge, and this man worked with drug addicts, and he would see young people come in and get off of drugs and get saved.

But a lot of times he would see these kids who would confess Christ, they would get out of their drugs or come out of prostitution. After a few weeks, they would they would get caught up in it again. They would go back to the streets after all the pouring into and all the praying and all the promising and all the confessing. And this guy eventually was so overwhelmed that he came to the director of the one team challenge. He said, I can't do this anymore.

This is just too painful. I can't see another person go back. I can't see another person come into and hear the gospel and reject the gospel and just this is just overwhelming. And that man responded with so much wisdom. He looked at this other individual and he says, You can't give up.

He goes, what do you mean? He goes, I'll tell you when you can quit. You can quit when you stop feeling that pain. When you stop feeling that pain is the day that you can call in quits, but this is part of the package. That there will be glory stories in your Christian experience, but there will also be painful moments where your heart will ache, where you will think to yourself, is this really worth it?

How many more of my friends are gonna give up? How many more people need to leave the bible study, the prayer meeting that we're holding at on on campus or on my church? There's gonna be moments where you're gonna feel like that, but listen what the Lord's saying in numbers. You gotta be willing to embrace where if you wanna go where you want me to go, want me to take you, embrace this. Embrace it.

There's two types of war. There's the war from the outside where the enemy attacks us, but then we come here to verse 47 of chapter one. But the Levites, they were not numbered. They were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. For the Lord spoke to Moses saying, only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel.

But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. Verse 51. When the tabernacle is set out, the Levites shall take it down. And when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.

So the Levites were not included in the list of those who would go to war. Why? It's because they had a different fight to fight. The Levites would camp directly around the tabernacle and to protect it and to guard it and to manage it and to make sure that nobody from the outsiders would come in and defile it. But not just that, we read later on here in verse 53, but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel.

So they were to guard it not just from outsiders, but especially from those who are inside the camp, from coming to a place where they would defile the things that are holy. And this is the second type of war, that the ministers who have been set apart by God to fully dedicate themselves to to ministering unto the Lord and representing the people had to make sure that they, the people rather, would not invoke the wrath of God and bring about judgment from within. And that's the second type of war and that is the first Peter two eleven, that as sojourner and exiles, we would not give in to the passions of the flesh, and this is what Peter says, which war against your soul. And so even on a on a community level, there is a warfare that is outside that you and I have to realize will be a part of our day to day experience. But there's a second type of warfare and that's internal, and that is making sure that what God is doing here is not defiled, that what God is doing here would not be contaminated by leaven.

And so it is it is the purpose of the ministers to continually scan and examine and preach and counsel and watch for anything from within. See it's one thing to have the enemy as your enemy. It's another thing when God brings judgment and discipline. And so there's two types of warfare happening here that we have to be aware of, externally and internally. Then we come to chapter two, and chapter two is very specific.

As we cover the first two lessons, lesson number one, there will be warfare outside. Lesson number two, there will be warfare inside, and we have to be aware of that. Then chapter two is dedicated to the encampment of these tribes around the tabernacle. It's literally a chapter dedicated to where the tribes will park themselves, whether north, south, east, or west, whenever through this journey they come to a place where they halt, where that cloud stops in a location, they say, okay, this is where we're gonna park. And right off the bat, just to know that, just to see the list and how he groups the different tribes tells me one thing about God.

God is a God of order. He's not a God of confusion. He's not a God of chaos. When God wants to do something, he does it orderly. He does it specifically.

Many people attribute things to God that are chaotic. Even in first Corinthians 14 when it comes to the most spiritually gifted church, he says, listen. I'm not against these gifts. There's gonna be some of you speaking in tongues, two or three tops, interpreter. No interpreter?

Sit down. Wanna prophesy? Two or three tops. No more than that. That's where we get the verse.

God is not a God of confusion, but a God of order. And so I wanna even admonish many people who emphasize the gifts of the spirit. Do you understand that the same God who's giving these gifts is the God of order? And so we see here that gives instructions concerning where they are to park themselves, and this is a beautiful thing. Pay attention to this now.

Look at verse three and nine. Verse three and nine deals with where Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun were to park. And what does it say here in verse three? Those to camp on the East Side. And what is the total number?

All those listed of the Camp Of Judah by their companies were 186,400 people. Remember that number. That's a lot of people. Then you come to the South Side and we have Simeon in verse 10 down to verse 16, Simeon, Reuben, and Gad. And the total number is found in verse 16.

All those listed of the camp of Reuben by their companies were 151,450 people. Then Then you come to verse 17, and it speaks about the Levites and how the Levites are gonna be directly and in close proximity to the tabernacle, and those divisions are gonna happen later. So we have East Side. Don't get confused now and don't let your mind wander. You have South Side.

You have six tribes already. Then you come to verse 18. On the West Side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim, then Manasseh, then Benjamin. So this is the West Side, and the total number of peep people is in verse 24. And those listed of the Camp Of Ephraim by their companies were a 108,100 people.

So this is the least amount of people. Then you have the North Side in verse 25, and these tribes are Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. Verse 31 tells us the number of people. All those listed on the Camp Of Dan were 157,600 people. So you have the West Side, which is 108,000 people if we round up the number.

You have the South Side, and you have the North Side, which are close in number, rounded to a 150,000 people. 108,000 people, 150,000 people, and the longest or the largest group of people is the East Side. Now this is where it gets interesting. I do not think for certain that this is how it looked, but it's a great possibility that this is how it was arranged. It could not be.

I'm not saying this is certain. I'm not saying this is what necessarily is being drawn out. We have no idea how those arrangements were made. We have no idea. So don't don't take my word and say, this is how it looked exactly.

But it's an interesting thought. Go to numbers 24 real quickly, and we'll get to this at one point in our study concerning Balaam. This is when Balaam was giving his third oracle. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. Now if Balaam geographically was on a higher plane and he was getting an aerial view, based on those numbers, it could be quite possible, not for certain, that this is what he would have saw.

And get that picture up, please. And hopefully, you can see it from back there. Do you guys see it? The West Side is all the way to the top, Benjamin, Manasseh Ephraim, the least amount of people. The south side and the north side are the even amount of people, close in number.

And the east side, which is the bottom part, is the most amount of people, the longest part. If it was organized this way, this is what Balaam would have saw when he was pronouncing those curses. Interesting, isn't it? Thank you for that. That's not for certain, but there's a better question to ask here in light of the text.

What was God's purpose in organizing his people in such a way? What's his intent? God is a God of order, yes. But there is a specific mission he has in in light of this chapter, and I believe it's found in verse two of Numbers chapter two. Look at verse two of Numbers chapter two.

The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard with the banners of their fathers' houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. So remember, you saw the image. All those tribes would be around the tabernacle, and they were to posture themselves where their faces would be looking at the tabernacle. So whenever they parked and whenever they got up to move forward, they would continue to be reminded of the presence and person of God.

And this is how the Lord wants you and I to walk through this journey with him continually in mind. That no matter where you plant yourself for a season or whether you're in transition, what the Lord wants you and I to remember is don't forget about me. Don't lose sight of me. Don't forget me. Don't forget what this is all about.

Can that not happen in the journey of our lives? We get so caught up in whatever is going on around us or even just in the transition. We're busy. We're moving. And the Lord in his wisdom says, okay.

Yes. As you're moving, you might see things along the way, and things might come against you, and things might go for you. But listen. Whenever you stop and park, you're gonna look at me. And whenever you get up to go, you're gonna look at me.

And you will be continually reminded that this is all about you and I walking together. The wisdom of God, in a sense is don't neglect these chapters. Then we come to chapter three and four. We'll combine them. These chapters deal with the numbering, the senses, and the giving of duties concerning the Levites specifically.

They were separated from the rest of the people to serve as priests and ministers full time in the dwelling place of God. And how were they gonna do this? How were they gonna divide this and give these specific instructions? Well, they were gonna give different responsibilities to the sons of Levi, to the sons of Levi specific. Anybody know the sons of Levi by name, by heart?

There's three names. Those are Aaron's sons, but Levi's sons there's three names, Kohath, Gershon, and Merari. Three sons. And each of these groups were given specific responsibilities of how they were to deal with the tabernacle, and this is a very powerful thing concerning us and dealing with ministry itself. And so we come here, look at chapter four, and I want us to look at verse four here of chapter four.

This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, the most holy things. So they were to deal with the most holy things. So God is giving instruction of how they were to erect, how they were tear down, how they were to manage this, and this is part of the transportation part process. Every time that they were to park and they were to pick themselves up and move forward to the next location, Kohath dealt with lifting and transporting the holy things. So everything from the ark to the lamp to the table of the bread of presence to the altar, they had the responsibility.

So Aaron would go in because they could not look upon it. If they looked upon the holy things, they would die. So they would cover it with different cloths and different materials. And then when the time was ready, Kohath would come in, lift these things up, and they would move forward. Then we come here to the people of Gershon, this specific family within the tribe of Levi.

And they were to deal in verse six. Verse six. Then they shall put in a covering of excuse me. Verse 25. They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacles in the tent of meeting with its coverings and the covering of goatskin that is on top of it and the screen of the entrance of the meeting.

So basically, the things that are hanging. Anything that's hanging, you guys are gonna take it up. And so they had their own thing to lift. And as they were gonna lift it, you have verse 29, the last group of people, the Merari tribe. You shall list them by their clans, in verse 29, in their father's houses.

And these people were to take the heavy things like bases and pillars and all these things, these these things that would connect the structure together, they were left to that. And then we come here in verse twenty nine thirty, for 30 years old and to 50 years old, you shall list them. Everyone can come on duty to the service of the tent of meeting. And this is what they are charged to carry as a whole service in the tent of meeting and a list of different things. I love just as a side note, 30 to 50 years old.

That that was the this is a principle. This is not for all time. This is a principle that they were to give themselves to the ministry in the strength of life, in the prime of life. It's a picture of you and I giving the best years to God, not giving him the last things, not giving him the the latter years of our life. I remember brother Keith's testimony.

We talked about his father, how he got saved at 50, but he was weeping. He was broken though he was saved because he knew that his life had been wasted. And so he begged God to use him as a soul winner for the remainder of his life because he was ill in health, and God honored that prayer. And he had this is what brother Keith said. He had won more souls, and he had preached to so many more people.

All these opportunities open because God had heard the prayer of a man who was so desperate to be used before he was taken home. And nine years later, he was taken home. The principle here is give God the best of your strength. Before you get weak and before things come in life where just even time wise, busyness, all these things will bury the ability for you to be able to serve into that capacity. So even here in Leviticus, the Lord is saying, look at your life, invest as much as you can before you look back and say, Man, if I only could again.

I never ever want to say those words or think those thoughts at the end of my life. I don't know how long I have, but I never want to be able to look back at my life and say, you know, I really in the moment it was okay, but now I look back, oh I wish I could have done it better, by the grace of God.' But there's an amazing principle here from these three different tribes that are giving themselves to different burdens. In the prime of their life, we learned three lessons so far. Number one, that if we wanna go where God wants us to go, we have to be willing to embrace warfare within and outside. Number two, that if we want to embrace God's calling for our lives corporately and go where God wants us to go from chapter two, we must continually live with our face before him.

What did the psalmist say in Psalm sixteen eight? I have set the Lord always before me. That whatever I do, I invite the Lord into it. You do that. God will take you where he wants you to go.

I'm willing to embrace warfare. Yes. Let's talk corporately. Let's not talk individually. Let's talk for this church.

We're willing to embrace warfare. It's gonna get bloody sometimes, saints. It's gonna get ugly sometimes. It's gonna get turbulent. It's gonna require some days.

It's gonna require some extra days of prayer in the week. Are you guys ready for that? Do you really think for a moment that what God has done in this place by his grace and mercy, do you really think that Satan is not gonna do something? You have lost your mind. We have all lost our mind if we don't think that he's gonna come with something.

And we always ask, lord, don't we not? Oh, god. Give us the church of acts. Give us the days of the church of acts. Which part?

Which part? Because we always think about the acts chapter two part where they continually devoted themselves to prayer and the breaking of bread and the apostles teachings and fellowship. Right? Acts chapter two. And everybody who had need, they gave to them, and and nobody was in need.

And there was great fellowship, and everybody stood in awe. And that's a wonderful season. Just a few chapters later, chapter five, two people came in. Satan had entered their hearts, and they lied to the holy spirit, dropped dead. Imagine going to that service.

Chapter six, the Hellenists are complaining. Hey. You're giving more attention to the Jews. What about us? Chapter seven, Stephen is martyred.

The first Christian martyr. Chapter eight, persecution breaks out. Saul is coming with documents that he can slice up any Christian he wants. Which part? Because if we want those days of glory, we better realize that there's gonna be days of warfare from within and outside.

So we better know what we're praying for because Satan will fight a people that want more of God. Warfare, if we wanna go where God wants us to go, like he wants to take his people to the promised land, we better realize and be prepared and embrace warfare. Secondly, we better live with our face always before him that no matter where where God takes us in blessing, in increase, in abundance, that it's all about Him. It's about Him. It's about knowing Him.

It's about pleasing Him. And now we come to this final lesson, that if we want to go where God wants to take us corporately, every single person must be willing to carry their portion of the burden. Now this is where it doesn't get too popular, but this is important for us to understand. These tribes under Levi each had unique responsibilities that God had divided and distributed among them. He had laid out these different responsibilities that they were to faithfully own with all their strength and all their might and faithfulness and consistency.

And my question to you tonight is which part do you think was most important? Was Kohath's responsibility more important? What about Merari? What about Gershon? You read those things, and you read what they were to carry.

And you think to yourself, well, probably Kohath. I read Kohath, and I go, he's carrying the most holy things. You got the ark. You got the tap you got all these wonderful pieces of furniture that that contribute, that make this thing so unique. And we go, That's the most important thing, but what are the things concerning the furniture if there is nothing to sustain it, and to hold it, and to protect it, and to cover it?

What about the veils that are gonna protect it and and warn people not to enter in flippantly? What about the poles and the bases that are actually gonna build the whole structure? So on the surface level, we look at Kohath and we go, that's the most important. But in fact, if you have Kohath and you don't have Merah, you don't have Gershen, you don't have Kohath. What's the idea here?

It's that sometimes on a corporate level, we want to serve God, but we look at Kohath and his responsibilities, and we go, I want Kohath's responsibilities. I I want I I I want the things where it looks like it requires less strength and there's more stage presence. I want this. But what's this and what's this without the things in the background? Coming up to this bible study, I was I had to text Phoebe.

I'm saying this is so timely because very shortly are we going to present to those who consider this their home church different responsibilities that are needed. And I find it so amazing that we've landed on this text because God wants to say something here is that every part is important And if there's a neglect in one area, it compromises the other. If there's a lack of zeal in one area, it will affect the zeal of the other. And God in his wisdom says, all of these things I give to you, will you faithfully embrace it? Will you take it upon yourself?

Is this something that you're willing to do? Or do you really think that unless people know what I'm doing, I'm not really serving God. My prayer for all of us is that we would realize how God in Christ categorizes greatness in the kingdom. What we think greatness is, unfortunately, has been influenced by how the world evaluates greatness. Please hear this if you really wanna serve God.

And this has humbled me more and more throughout my life, that how Jesus, the son of God, describes greatness is totally contrary to how the world displays it. He goes, listen. Serve. And he goes, let let me wash your feet to just show you what that looks like. I think to myself, Lord, whatever you think greatness is, I wanna walk in it.

I want to do this for you to be pleased with my service. Whatever it looks like, I don't covet all those things that people want. I don't want to covet it. I want what you think. I want to slip into that.

Lord, give me the heart to embrace and to see the purity and the joy of it. And help me realize that there is great importance in the little things. Realize that in your life. Oh, please come to the place that you don't need this to to be great in the kingdom of God. You don't need to handle the things that seem so glamorous and and so heavy with responsibility and influence.

You don't. Please don't think that for one moment. Unfortunately, and I say this I don't say this with a judgmental spirit, but unfortunately, we have allowed again the culture and the way the world works affect the way we minister in the church in the West. And I can start spewing things, and I don't wanna go there, but it's not true in the kingdom. It's an upside down pyramid.

And this is what he's trying to show us right here. And this is what I want us to realize. In chapter one, in chapter two, in chapter three, and in chapter four, It all ends the same way. Look at verse 49 of chapter four as we close in a moment. According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses, they were listed, each one with his task of serving or carrying.

Thus, they were listed by him as the Lord commanded Moses. You read that in the last three chapters, and you'll realize that every time God had given a specific command, whether it was a census for the army, a census for where they were to park themselves, a census for Levi and his sons, Every single time it ended with, and they answered in obedience to his commandments. And we look at them, we go, that's awesome. But here's the thing, it's a warning. We go, how is that a warning?

They obeyed perfectly up to this point exactly. If you're familiar with the book of Numbers, you know what I'm speaking of. And just coming to this chapter alone, should our hearts be aware, especially of what Paul said, What's the lesson up to this point? It's so easy to start, very difficult to finish. Very easy to start.

It's so much more when it comes to the journey and finishing well. Where are you today in your Christian walk? Where's that zeal to obey? Where's that renewal of the mind concerning how you look at things in life, even ministry in light of what we just read? Has it matured?

Has it been sanctified? Is it conforming? Is your heart in agreement with what God says more and more? Yes, there's battles and yes, there's warfare. Yes, there's stumbling.

But do you see yourself in a in a in a higher place than you were before? I read this and I go, wow. And we're gonna see it more. And they obeyed and they obeyed and they obeyed and they obeyed. And it's an exciting portion of the book of Numbers, but it's not how it ends.

It's not how it ends. And in light of as we close, I said I was gonna close here, in light of even just what was said earlier, and I don't wanna say too much on it, there's a portion of Zephaniah. Would you turn there as we close and ready to sing to the Lord? In the book of Zephaniah, minor prophets, right after Habakkuk, was reading this today and it really it became almost like a prayer. And I and I pray that we would pray this together not just tonight as we close, but for the rest of our days as long as the Lord would keep us.

Look at verse 11. This is the Lord describing what the earth and really his people, the people of Israel, will be like in the millennial reign. Look what it says in verse 11, On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me. For then I will remove from your midst your proudly exalted ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain, but I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord.

And I read that and I thought to myself, Lord, I know you're gonna do this in the millennial reign, but would you do it in our church? Lord, by your grace, would you create a people that will be humble and lowly? And would you remove, unless you change, those that are proud and want to exalt themselves and want to use ministry as an opportunity to show themselves all? No Lord, we don't want those kind of Lord, make a people that are humble and low, that want to serve you just to please you and for your glory. I want to say this to every person whether you represent this church or not.

Whatever gifting that God has given you, whether people realize or recognize it, you are needed. You are needed. There is not one Christian on the face of the earth who's truly been born again that God did not deposit a gift for a specific purpose in his church. Every single one of you need to hear this tonight. And whether you're here or somewhere else, know this, that God has an idea of what greatness is and it's about faithfulness.

It's about faithfulness. And I don't know about you, but I want to come to a place where whatever the Lord asks of me, I would do it with such joy and delight. Let's pray this prayer tonight. Would you bow your heads with me? What did we learn from the book of Numbers?

This is what we learned. That the same way God prepared them to move forward, by understanding these valuable lessons and disciplines, knowing that there is gonna be warfare and embracing it, knowing that no matter where God takes us, his presence, his person is central, knowing that whatever responsibility is laid out, we should all be willing to embrace it knowing that every person has an important role to play. If we take those roles seriously, we can move on in this wilderness journey, and we are that much closer to the land flowing with milk and honey. That's what we got from Numbers today in the overview, and we pray that as you continue to take us through this book, that we would embrace the promises and the warnings. But let's pray Zephaniah three.

Lord, in this place, would you create a humble and lowly people? Whatever you want, oh God, I wanna do, and I wanna do it with the right attitude. It's amazing. That's what he's going to do in the millennial reign. Meaning what?

That is his expectation of his people. That's what he's trying to say there. And he's gonna do it one day, but let's pray in faith that he can do it here. Father, we come before you tonight in light of this Bible study. Yes, in concluding Leviticus, we thank you for understanding the holiness of God, and Lord we choose in our hearts to say that it is better to be married to you than to this world.

It's better to walk faithfully with you than committing spiritual adultery. Lord, help us remember that anytime we go against your word, it's just a downward spiral. And Lord, we don't want to come to the place where we make all these decisions and have apparent favorable consequences in our lives, where we have more money, or we have this relationship, or we have these opportunities, only to come to the place where years have gone by and we come to the conclusion where we say it's better to be with him wholeheartedly. And Lord, as we desire to go from Sinai to Canaan, Lord help us realize these lessons. We together say by the grace of God, you will help us fight these battles, Lord.

And Lord, as messy as it gets, help us to put on the full armor of God and to stand firm. Lord, not just internally or rather externally, but also internally. And Lord, we look at how you've placed those different tribes facing the tabernacle. Lord, every person in this life and especially for this church, no matter where you take us, may Christ be central. May pleasing him be the focus and the goal.

Father, as there is different needs, help us realize that the picture is not going to be fulfilled unless every piece of the puzzle is met. Lord, we ask that you would make us a humble and lowly people to say, oh God, whatever it is, whether it's the holy things or the bases or the bars or the curtains, I want to contribute to the tabernacle where we can host the glory of God. Lord, may we be people who are excited about what you want us to do. Bring us to that place where we don't do it just by mere duty, but out of delight and knowing that you categorized greatness so much differently than how the world does. And so Lord, we worship you in light of the truths that you've shown to us tonight.

That you are a God that speaks not just in Romans and Hebrews, you speak through those books, but in Numbers and Leviticus. You are an awesome God. All scripture is God breathed. And Lord, if anybody has not been convinced of that before this, may we be convinced of it tonight. Lord, we give you praise in Jesus' name.