Ex 36:1+2, "Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded." Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it. 
	We are in the process of looking at the graciousness of God in the fact of His supply of what is needed in the lives of His people. He makes every provision, through His gifts of love and mercy and wisdom and understanding and skill so lavishly bestowed upon the recipients of His ceaseless generosity. As we have reiterated over and over again, all these skills and gifts are for the purpose of allowing humanity the opportunity to bring further glory and honor to the Lord God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. 
	The other detail that needs to be emphasized is that God Alone knows the reason that He has given His gifts so fully and freely. We do not earn them. We do not deserve them. We do not build up credit with Him through our judicious and self-serving use of them. They are from Him, by His gracious bestowment, and they are given because He knows how they will continually bring glory and honor to Him in the living relationship that He has established with those who are His own chosen ones in Jesus Christ. 
	The Apostle Paul brings this to the forefront in Rom 11:25-36, if you would please open to it in your Bibles. In this passage, he encourages us, who are not of the heritage of Jewish descent, that as with our salvation, everything is at the discretion of God and in accordance to His plans and His purposes. Because it is not based on anything else, so we are fully assured of the fact that what God has given has been given for all of eternity in Jesus Christ. 
	Rom 11:25-36, For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." "And this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. 
	Not only does this passage give us complete rest and assurance in the fact that what God gives, He does by His own volition and for all of eternity, but it also takes away any ideas of questioning God about what He has chosen to do. So often, we will try to argue with God that we are incapable of doing this or that because it is something outside the realm of our perceived abilities. When He puts a need on our heart that we do not want to do, we will use the argument that we are not gifted in that area or that we can not physically accomplish such a difficult task or that we are not smart enough or that we are too shy to speak publically or that we are unable to command a presence in the midst of a crowd. There are so many excuses that we put forth because we just do not want to obey His call. 
Yet, in the reality that God gives what is needed and no one can argue against it, we must come face to face with the truth…Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
	Our entire life and essence is a gift from the heart of God for the purposes as only He understands. We cannot argue with Him, as Moses learned when God called him to stand before Pharaoh and demand the release of His chosen people from their slavery to Egypt. No one and nothing can thwart the plan and the purpose of God in the lives of those whom He has called unto Himself. Our excuses will be seen as just that, excuses for things that we don’t want to do, while all the time God gives us the grace and the ability and the energy and the necessary skill to do what He intends for us to do. We must ever focus our minds and hearts on the fact that who we are and what we do and how we do it is always and eternally with the goal that …To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
	This then brings us to the Apostle Paul’s emphasis to us as recorded in Rom 12:2-21, if you would please turn to it. Rom 12:2-21, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 
	The Apostle is instructing us how to think of ourselves before the mighty hand of God. We are not to think too highly of ourselves with the idea that we are someone who has a greater standing in any realm. Who we are is always and forever only by the grace and the gift of God Alone as He has so given us the skills and the abilities that we possess. Just as we are not to think that we can’t do those tasks that God has ordained for us, so also are we not to think that we have some special status that should cause us to be honored as highly prized and extraordinary by the ranks of our peers. We can never elevate ourselves over anyone because we are here to do exactly as our Lord and Master and Savior did, to serve. 
The Apostle Paul reinforces this fact of Christ’s service for us in Phil 2:3-8. Phil 2:3-8, Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 
Jesus gave up His place of glory and honor in order to come to this earth, born of a woman, to bring eternal life to us by His service unto death on the cross. He did not come to receive honor and glory and adoration from the humanity whom He had created. He came to be scourged and abused and spat upon and mocked and crucified in order that by His stripes and wounds and death, we might be healed forever more. That is the exact call that is upon us in the manner in which we employ those gifts and abilities that God has so graciously showered upon us. We are here to serve God and man in the life that He has freely given us. 
We need to continually hold before us the view of Jesus as Our Lord. So often we tend to just spotlight Him as Our Savior, which I am in no-wise belittling or minimizing as that is the greatest miracle of God’s graciousness and mercy. However, we often brush quickly over His title as Our Lord because that is the one which brings our skills and our abilities under the dominion of His usefulness in our lives. It is His Lordship which causes us to have to treat others with grace and with dignity and with consideration in the manner of our being of service unto them. This is the position that He has in the manner of our placement into His Body of Believers, His Church on this earth. 
Because Jesus is Lord of our lives, we are no longer free to do all those things which once were characteristic of our old nature of sin. We are held to the standard which He established in His complete service unto death. This, in no wise, means that we are perfect in our walk as He was, but we are on the road to His perfection. We are daily being led on the path which creates in us the greater purpose of God which places others above our own interests and likes and dislikes. Our entire view of what life is all about and understanding how our gifts and talents are for use far beyond the scope of bringing any wealth or fame or honor to us becomes absolutely subjected to what would please God. We hold forth the manner in which we would be of service with all our gfited skills and talents unto Him.
Again read the encouragement of the Apostle Paul as recorded in the Letter to the Church at Ephesus, Chapter 4, verses 1-13. Eph 4:1-13, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men." (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 
Please note the unity and the oneness that pervades this entire passage. All that God has done in the every manner in which He has equipped any of us is for the expressed purpose of bringing us to the point that …we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
There is no individual focus on this growth. What each person has to offer is given for the benefit of the whole body being formed and brought into that living relationship whereby God is fully glorified for the greatest gift of His Only Begotten Son. As Christ is honored, so the Father is glorified, so the Holy Spirit is manifested as the Bestower of everything that is needed for maturity and for growth and for the development into the fullness of Christ and everything that He is on this earth in His Church. This we will take up next week, Lord willing. So be it!
"Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded." Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Ps 104:31. Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works; Amen.