Take your bibles and I go to 2nd corinthians chapter 3 again. It's a privilege to be here Thank you so much for the dunlop Was down here actually for other reasons, but he was so gracious and said well while you're down here Why don't you just preach because they're gonna be nobody here. Anyway, so 2nd corinthians chapter 3 2nd corinthians chapter 3 It wasn't going to affect him at all Verses 5 through 18. We'll look at here briefly and then we're going to head over to exodus chapter 34 for the duration of our sermon Exodus chapter 34 for the duration, and 2 Corinthians chapter 3 is where we'll begin. We'll start at verse number 5. We'll kind of just jump right into the context, middle of the context here. That actually begins up in chapter 2, but let's start at verse 5. The Bible says this, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and 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? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 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." But even unto 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." Chapter 4, verse 1, therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. What we've just read here in 2 Corinthians 3, verses 5 through 18, and then, of course, 4, verse 1, tells us both how we were saved, and it also tells us what our ministry is after we're saved. Now, if you're here this evening and you're born again, you're a child of God, then you and I are privileged to be ministers of God. Say amen. Whether you're a woman or you're a man, you are a minister of God. You may not be an ordained minister, pastor of a church, but you minister in some capacity, and you're co-laborers with God. You and I are working together with God so that others might come to know true salvation through the person of Jesus Christ, and that is my ministry this evening, and by God's grace, that's your ministry this evening. And along with this, it is also very important that we fully understand the how in our salvation, which I believe the text here makes very plain. That is, how did I come to trust Christ as Savior? And when that is fully realized and understood through the Scriptures, Then and only then can you and I truly be effective ministers for the cause of Jesus Christ. Our objective this evening is simple. In order to fully understand what our ministry is, we must first fully understand and appreciate how we got saved. In other words, in order to have an effective ministry for Christ, we must first meet with Christ. Tonight, The title of our sermon is, His Salvation, Our Ministry. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank You for the opportunity tonight to look to Your Word. Thank You for Lighthouse Baptist Church. Thank You for Pastor Dunlop and his dear wife and family. Thank You, Lord, for these folks who have come out tonight. Thank You for Pacific Baptist College. We pray, Lord, tonight that the Spirit of God would have free course over this teaching tonight, Lord, that He would minister to our hearts, Father, and use me as a conduit of truth. We pray that if there be anybody here tonight that's unsaved, that, Lord, perhaps the message would prick their heart, Lord, that they would see a need for the Savior. Father, maybe there's a child of God here, Lord, that needs equipping and encouragement and edification. We pray, Father, tonight, you'd give them that. Wherever we are, we pray, Father, that you'd minister. In Jesus Christ's name, we ask it all. And all of God's people said... I want you to first of all understand Paul's argument here, understanding Paul's argument here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. The Apostle Paul is comparing the Old Testament message with the New Testament message. And by the way, they don't contradict, but rather they complement each other. And he does this in chapter 3, verses 6 through 11, where he talks about how we are made able ministers of the New Testament in verse 6, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. And he goes on to talk about the ministration of death written and engraven in stones." Of course, referring back to the Ten Commandments and referring to the fact that the Old Testament was all about the law pointing out the fact that you are a sinner and that you were guilty before God. And he says, even that ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious. Now it's amazing how an Old Testament system where everything was all about you're guilty, you're guilty was glorious. But evidently that's what Paul says here in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. It 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. So in the next few verses all the way down to verse 11 he's going to compare New Testament message and the Old Testament message. Paul also makes it clear that salvation is a matter of the heart and not of the head. Let me say that again. Paul also makes it clear that salvation is a matter of the heart and not the head. And I want you to look at 2 Corinthians 3, verses 14 through 16 very briefly. But notice what it says, it says, 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. Notice verses 15 and 16. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say that next word. Everyone say It is important for you and I to know that salvation is not a head thing, it's a heart thing. Amen. Salvation is a heart thing, not a head thing. The Bible says in Romans 10, verse 10, for with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. This is why there can be college professors in places of higher education that are secular in origin, that can say a lot of things about the Bible, they can say a lot of things that sound good, but unless they have a heart relationship with the Savior, They're going to hell. That's an unfortunate thing to say, but that's the truth. The issue is not about the head. The issue is about the heart. When it shall turn to the Lord. Paul makes the case that unless you are saved by the power of God, you are likened to an individual who has a veil over your heart. Notice again in verse number 14. 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. The whole point of that passage is this. Every individual who walks upon the face of the earth who does not know Christ as their Lord and Savior has a veil or a covering over their heart that doesn't allow them fellowship and access with the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, this explains why the Jewish people have a hard time with Jesus as Messiah. They have a veil over their heart. And until it is taken away, They cannot know their Messiah. Paul then concludes his argument here in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 1, by saying this, And of course, you've all heard this expression before, and I'm sure your pastors probably used it a thousand times. And of course, I'll just add to that with a thousand and one tonight. When you see therefore, see what it's there for. And of course, therefore, in verse 1 of chapter 4 is referring back to chapter 3 and about removing veils from the heart. You and I, man or woman, have the awesome ministry of removing veils from the human heart. Now, God does the moving. God does the removing. God does the saving, but how will they hear without a preacher who forfeits their obligation to tell others about a God who removes veils from their hearts? That's your responsibility. That's my responsibility. That veil on the heart causes people to not understand the Word of God. That veil on the heart causes people to be unconcerned about eternity. I often tell people all the time, they'll come to me frustrated saying, pastor, I've witnessed to this person so many times until I'm blue in my face, they just don't get it. And I said, are you concerned about their soul? And they say, of course I'm concerned about their soul. And I say, they will not get converted until there is concern about their soul as you're concerned about their soul. That veil on their heart causes you to not desire God. That veil on your heart causes you not to desire His word. That veil on your heart causes you not to desire His church. That veil, if left unremoved, will cause you to spend an eternity in the lake of fire. Christian, may I say tonight you have a ministry that according to Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, verse number 8, is described as rather glorious. It's a rather glorious ministry that you and I would be privileged to tell people about a Savior who removes the veil of the heart. I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul does here in this chapter. One will notice that in 2 Corinthians 3 that the Apostle Paul uses an Old Testament account in order to bring home this New Testament truth of what your ministry is and mine. And Paul goes and talks about Moses. and talks about how he communed with God and he came off the mount and the people of Israel could not even look at Moses unless he put a veil over his face because of the glory that was shining from him. And for the rest of the evening I'd like you to go to Exodus chapter 34 as we examine this passage, if you will. Exodus chapter 34. And I want to mine a few truths from this passage. We'll be done this evening. At the outset, I mentioned that in order to have an effective ministry for Christ, we must first meet with Christ. And in Exodus chapter 34, God meets with Moses. And may I mention a second time. Here in Exodus chapter 34, the Bible says this in verse 1, And the Lord said unto Moses, Cue thee two tables of stone like unto the first, And I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest and be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. and he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first. And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up into the Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth, worshiped and said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. I want to give you a couple of interesting truths here revealed in Exodus chapter 34 before we get into the brunt of the message. I want you to notice the first thing very briefly. Number one, God is able to duplicate an original. God is able to duplicate an original. You'll see two times in Exodus 34 verse 1 it says this. Cue thee two tables of stone like unto the first. Drop down to verse 4. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first. Now those four words like unto the first are extremely important. Because that means that God is able to duplicate an original. Say amen. Now it's interesting to note that Moses had received the Ten Commandments initially. And of course, we know what happens. God reminded Moses that his associate pastor Aaron was doing a lousy job with the congregation down below. And they were dancing a jig around some golden calves and things of that nature. And he says, get down there and take care of your people. And when he saw what happened, he took the stones and he broke them, right? So original number one is done. Right original number one's done. So god says no problem I'll take my same finger that I wrote those originals with and I'll write a second one and guess what? They're just as inspired as the second one Or just as inspired as the first ones now i like when people say things like this well you know what i've got is sufficient the bible i've got now is sufficient uh... but it's just not exactly the way listen what you have in your lap right now is the perfect word of god it is like unto the first so just know that the that the man who broke the law was able to turn to a god who can write a second set like unto the first So just be convinced that when you walk out tonight like you weren't already that you've got the Word of God. So number one, God is able to duplicate an original. Number two, Moses' vision of the Savior cannot come before he is aware of having broken something. Let me say that again. Moses' vision of the Savior cannot come before he is keenly aware that he has broken something. Look at verse 1 again of chapter 34. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone, likened to the first. And I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables. Say the next three words with me, folks. Which thou breakest. Now look up here. You're probably thinking, Preacher, what God was saying is that he threw them down and he broke them. Well, that's true. But he also broke them. But he also broke them. See, Moses' vision of the Savior on the mount, when we get to the end of this chapter, could not come before he was keenly aware that he had offended God. I want you to notice where he's interesting. He says, which thou breakest. You cannot come to know Christ as Savior unless you personally know you have offended Him. which thou breakest." I always tell people all the time, stop pointing out this guy's problem, that guy's problem, this guy's problem. What's your problem? What's your issue? No one had to convince me at the age of 13. I remember sitting there in Pioneer Baptist Church, 11717 Allard Street, Pioneer Boulevard. Joe Boyd was preaching. Luke chapter 16. You didn't have to convince me that there was a place called hell, and you didn't have to convince me I was a sinner. I was 13 years old. I knew keenly I was a sinner, and I knew keenly that I defended God. I had broken His commandments. It's personal. Thou breakest. I also want you to notice something else. Once Moses was aware that he had broken Personally, God's law, Moses' self-assessment changes. Now this is interesting because I'm going to want you to compare Exodus 34 verses 8 through 9 with Exodus 32 verses 30 through 32 in just a second. I want you to look at verses 8 and 9 very briefly of chapter 34. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth in worship. And he said, if now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, catch the wording, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity And our sin and take us for thine inheritance Well includes himself in that go over to exodus chapter 32 exodus chapter 32 verses number 30 and 32 This of course is uh, the initial meeting there the mount on mount sinai the original 10 commandments if you will Uh, and of course the lord reminding moses that uh, your people down there are not doing the right thing and in verse number The Bible says this and it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people This is of course after he ascends the mountain and he goes down there and talks to me says that Moses said to the people Ye have sinned a great sin and now I will go up unto the Lord peradventure or perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin and And Moses returned to the Lord and said, O this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said to Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Go back to Exodus chapter 34. Over there in Exodus 32, he says, man, they've sinned, your sin, it's your problem. Over there, he gets a vision of God. Oh, my goodness. He sees God in verse 7, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgressing, clearing the guilty. And then all of a sudden, in verse 8, Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And all of a sudden, about halfway through verse 9, he says, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon, everyone say it, our iniquity, and say it again, our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. Something happened. Between Exodus 32 and Exodus 34, where over there it's a bit more cavalier, it's about you, it's your problem, it's your sin, all of a sudden now he gets this view of God that was a little bit different from Exodus 32, and now he includes himself. You didn't just break it, I broke it. When Moses saw God, Moses saw himself. I have people telling me all the time, Pastor, I'd like to see God. I say, you really want to see God? You might want to rethink that one. Because when you see God, you'll be like Isaiah. Isaiah 6, you know, woe is me. Not some, you know, not some thing that you see on some Christian channel where he says, I went up to the third heaven and I did this and now I'm going to write a book and I'm going to sell it to you for $19.95. You know, Close Encounters of the Godkind, you know, written by Jesse Duplantis, a laughing Louisiana preacher. You know, and it's amazing. You got these preachers that write about trips to heaven, and they write about it in such a cavalier fashion, and they sell it to you, and they do all this, and they saw the face of God, and this and this, and Paul, when talking about his trip to the third heaven, didn't even say it in the first person. He says, I knew a man. That's what he said. I knew a man. Didn't even talk about it in the first person. When you get close to a guy or a woman who walks with God, they won't have that pride. Because the closer you walk with God, the more He fires that stuff out of you and burns it away. No more did we hear from Moses' mouth the people of sin. Now he included himself in that assessment. Let me give you the fourth thing real quickly. Number one, God is able to duplicate an original. Number two, Moses' vision of the Savior cannot come before he is aware that he has keenly broken God's commandments. Number three, because of that vision of God and because he has noticed that he has broken the commandments, Moses' self-assessment changes. And then notice, fourthly, salvation begins a process, now notice what I said, begins a process of destroying, Breaking and cutting down things that don't belong in your life Look at Exodus chapter 34 and look at verses 11 and following Observe thou that which I commanded thee this day. Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusites, and all the other fleabites. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves." How's that for inclusivism, amen? Boy, I bet Moses had on the back of his chariot, coexist. Anyway, verse 14, for thou shalt worship no other God, for the Lord whose name is Jealous, capital J, is a jealous God. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice, And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods, thou shalt make thee no molten gods. I should say God's a bit jealous. I should say he's a bit jealous. Now listen to me. Some of you think, now maybe not you guys, you're the Wednesday night crowd, so you guys got this theology all straight. But some of you think that salvation is where it ends. I got saved praise the Lord. I'm going to heaven by the way, that's true If you're a saved child of God tonight, you've got heaven secure But that's not where it ends that's where it begins Some of you think that once you got saved all your problems are solved. I got news for you all mine started Some of you think all your bad habits go away no, they just go under a microscope and you notice them even more and And you think, well, I'm safe now. All the old influences have gone. No. The friends that you didn't want to have around call you. Let's go out tonight. Let's hang out. Let's do this. Let's go there. Let's go. What do I do? What do I do? I got to make new friends. Not unless you make a regular. Listen, all that stuff doesn't stop. But you've got to make a regular habit of destroying some things, cutting down some things, and breaking down some things. Regularly. You mean, what do you mean regularly? I mean daily. Maybe every second. You say, ah, Preacher, give me a break. I mean, some of us are better than others. That might be true. Some of you might be way better than me about a lot of things. But I'll give you an Old Testament example of this. Look at 2 Kings 23. 2 Kings 23. 2 Kings 23. Give you an Old Testament example of what this is all about. 2 Kings 23, verse 1. The Bible says this. 2 Kings 23, when you get there, say amen. All right, we got two of you there second Corinthians chapter 23 verse 1 and the king sent And they gathered unto him all the elders of judah and of jerusalem And the king went up into the house of the lord and all the men of judah and all the inhabitants of jerusalem with him and the priests And the prophets and all the people both small and great and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant Which was found in the house of the lord now Can we all agree that they were all assembled for one purpose and that was to hear God's law. Verse 3, And the king stood by a paler, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all their heart and their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people stood to the covenant. That is, they agreed with the king that what he was going to do is what we're going to do. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and so on and so forth, down to verse five, and he put down, look what it says, and he put down the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem, them also that burn incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the hosts of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem, under the book Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. Boy, that was real touchy there. And he break down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings For the grove and he brought all the priests out of the cities of judah and defied the high places Where the priest had burned incense from geba to bersheba break down the high places of the gates that were in the entering of the gates of joshua the governor of the city which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city and by the way verse 11 He took away the horses that the kings of judah had given to the son Go on and on and on in that chapter you say what happened? God's word got into the heart of the king and the nation turned Boy, if that would happen right now. I mean, King Josiah is in the presence of the law of God. It is read. He covenants that I'm going to walk in this. And as soon as he makes that covenant to God in his word, he starts cleaning house. Look up here. God didn't do it. Josiah did it. You say, what does that mean? Some of you are waiting for God to take that bad habit away. Maybe you ought to do something about it. Some of you are waiting for God to kill those bad friends and influences you got, you know, through your imprecatory prayers. Maybe you ought to just not hang out with them. That's in your power. You know, some of you are waiting for God to take this away and take that away. All you've got to do is just not go there. When I started out in the ministry, I was in prison evangelism. And I remember one time after a sermon up in Delano, up at the receiving of their reception, a guy came up to me afterwards and said, preacher, he said, listen, man, I had problems with sin before I got here. I thought, wow. Guess you did cuz you're here now. So evidently it got you somewhere. But anyway, so he says listen, let me tell you what happened He's not a problem with with adult literature and he was just telling me all this stuff He says, you know on the way to my house. There was this adult bookstore and and and every day I would bypass it and Every time I would try to in my heart I would not go in there would not go in there and finally I succumbed to that temptation I went in I asked him a very clear question. I said was there another way home? I Well, yeah. Why do you have to go back the same way? Why is it that when we already know the answer to the problem, we pretend like we don't know the answer to the problem? And then we blame God for not taking it away. Josiah, not God, Josiah started breaking down some things. Now if you want victory, if you want revival, then get destroying, get breaking, and get cutting down some things in your life that are completely worthless to the cause of Christ. Understand that God is jealous. Now you've got to really wrap that one around your brain. God is jealous. Now not jealous like you men are of your women. Not as not jealous like some of you women are of your men, which I hope some of you are But a jealousy in a way that is rather holy Listen if your God Doesn't mind you making passes at the world the flesh and the devil Then you don't have a God who cares much about you and his relationship with you Because you and I, whether you like it or not, and don't get all self-righteous with the person next to you, you and I make passes at the world every day. And sometimes we do it so often that it's second nature. You need to understand that God is jealous of anything or anyone that takes your attention away from Him. Paul reminds us this in Colossians. You don't need to turn there. You know it. Set your affections on things above, not on things of this world. Let me tell you what God will do. I don't wish this on any of you, but I'm going to tell you what God will do. If there's something down here that's got your attention away from Him, He'll take it away from you. And it might have a human heart. Had a guy come up to me a couple of weeks ago. I was preaching this exact sermon in another church. I'm giving you rehash stuff, folks. Came up to me afterwards. He says, you know, I have this girlfriend that I thought I could do a little missions work on. I know she wasn't exactly like I was and this and that, but she was beautiful. That's always the excuse us guys use, right? She was beautiful. And I realized that. In my in my in my desire to to missionize her and bring her into my direction, I was actually capitulating every time and moving in her direction. You ever notice that? In your attempt to missionary date or whatever thing happens in your life, in the workplace, whatever, you're trying to just hang out with some people and you realize that you're actually compromising a little bit and you're moving a little bit in their direction as opposed to them moving in your direction. Be careful about that. Before you realize it, you'll be totally in their direction. And you'll be just like them. See, God is jealous of anything or anyone that takes your attention away from Him. And let me say one last thing about this passage, and we'll be done. Because these folks got to go to Iowa. Time with the Lord, listen to me, time with the Lord will make a visible difference. Look at Exodus chapter 34, verses 20 and following. Exodus chapter 34. Back to our secondary text, subtext, whatever you want to call it. Exodus 34. Moses, of course, realizes he'd broken the commandments. They were personal. He had a vision of God over here where God just presented himself and he got real humble in verse 8, bowed his head toward the earth, included himself as a sinner, not just the children of Israel. Starts breaking down some things in his life realize that god is jealous And that god is jealous over things and anything that you put before him And he spent that time with god And I want you to notice verse number 28 And he was there with the lord 40 days And 40 nights now stop for a second Now you think that'd have a little bit of an impact I mean just think about that out loud Do you think maybe spending 40 days and 40 nights with the creator of the universe? Do you think that make a little bit of an impact? I mean on your visage? Some of you can't even handle 40 minutes praying 40 seconds praying He was up there 40 days you say what are they talking about? I don't know but evidently they had something to talk about He didn't either eat bread nor drink water. I guess not. I guess you give God your undivided attention. Amen. And he wrote upon the tables of the words of the covenant with the Ten Commandments. And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses's hand, when he came down from the Mount, that Moses wist not or did not realize that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. What a thing. For you do not notice the communion was so sweet, but everyone else says, man, that face is shining. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh to him. Now, I got another message about that, but that's a different one. Verse 31, and Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with him. 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. Boy, that's a New Testament truth right there. Until he came out and he came out and spake unto the two individual that which was commanded And the two individual saw the face of moses that the skin of moses face shown And moses put the veil upon his face again until he went in to speak with him Look up here time with the lord Will make a visible difference It just will and guess what? You may not notice it But others will. Say, I'm not having anybody notice it lately. Maybe I've been spending enough time. You cannot be an effective minister of the Lord unless you first understand the great importance of your salvation. It is a heart issue. You cannot be an effective minister for God unless you first meet with God. And when you have a full and complete application and appreciation for your salvation, then you can go out and share with others how the veil over the heart can be removed. Why? Because it's his salvation, but it's now our ministry. Together with God, sharing this awesome fruit. But folks, people got to realize that they have personally offended God, that they have personally broken those commandments, that they have personally done something that is an affront to God. I don't know how a four-year-old necessarily understands that, but I know that the older you get, the more you understand that truth. I remember my boy, my boy's ten now, and I remember around four and a half, five years old, he started asking questions about the Lord, about salvation. He'd sat in a few services in the main service to hear me preach. And of course, he was in junior church for most of the time. But every once in a while, he'd want to stay in the main service and hear Daddy preach. And of course, I'd let him. Why not? Always good to have at least one fan there. And so, I remember we were taking a trip to Arizona. We came back from Prescott, Arizona. And we were traveling down a Palmdale Highway there between Adelanto and Pear Blossom. And he kept asking questions and asking questions and asking questions and we put him off for weeks Just put him off for weeks And then finally he just he just said dad I want to get saved I Said all right. I says tonight Tonight we'll talk about it And I didn't bring it up thinking if he brought it up. We'll talk about it And we prayed like normal after we did our devotional He said so what about what I asked you this morning? I said, well, son, what do you know about this? He says, I know that I've offended God. I said, yeah, you're ready. You're ready. And my five-year-old bowed his knee and got saved. He's 10 now, got baptized a few weeks later, a couple weeks later, and is going to be a fine young man. Can't wait to see what the Lord's going to do with him. Still waiting for Derek, who's four, and Serena, who's 18 months. Of course, that's going to be a little bit of a wait here. I think Derek, he's the short one of the three. And unfortunately, I think he's got a demon, so we're going to have to wrestle that demon out of him first. Yeah, I totally believe that he needs to have something exercised out of him. But nevertheless, when that demon comes out, the Holy Spirit will go in. And I'm praying for that. But listen, you have the awesome privilege. of sharing with people that a God that took the veil out of your heart can take the veil off their heart. And we serve an awesome God. And guess what? You have an awesome privilege. Don't keep it to yourself. Share it effectively. Share it efficiently. Share it often.