This Sunday's Worship Materials can be found in the "Featured Sermon" below. We meet in person at Harper Park Middle School, and the service is also livestreamed on our YouTube channel.

The Possession of the Lord (Exodus 19:1-6)

April 10, 2016 Speaker: Dr. David Silvernail Series: Exodus - The Glory of the Lord

Topic: Sermons Passage: Exodus 19:1–6

Anyone ever tell you that “You’re just an ordinary person.” “You’re just a kid.” “You’re just an employee!” “You just have a high school education.” “Just” is one of those words, like “yes, but” … and you know as soon as you hear it that nothing good will follow. It’s a way to minimize something or someone else by comparison. The person who is saying those things is implying that you probably can’t do much, you probably don’t know much, or you probably will never amount to much. And it can be pretty demeaning. And I’m pretty sure the Israelites have been hearing it for 400 some years – “You’re just a slave.”

In Exodus 19:1-6, our passage for this week, God declares, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests.” That would have shocked them at the time. They’d been in Egypt for over 400 years – and in Egypt, the priests held the power, controlled the rituals, and ran the affairs of the nation from their temples along the Nile. No one would dare say, “You’re just a priest!” Yet, it is what God decreed. Yes, they were going to have priests like Aaron, but they were all to be priests too. They were priests who didn’t wear robes, who had no temples, little to no training, but they were priests nonetheless.

Christians are given the same identity! Once we were freed from our sin, Jesus not only made us holy and righteous, but priests as well (1 Peter 2:5, 9). People who see you may think you aren’t much. They may say that you’re “just” this or that. They can’t see the identity you have in Christ … as a priest. They can’t see that you’ve been given the great privilege of representing God to mankind and to present mankind to God … just like Moses and Aaron! But how do we do that? It sounds easier said than done. And it is! So I guess you’ll just have to come Sunday to find out more! See you then! Dr. Dave