Bezalel Unsung Heroes

Hey kids, welcome back to Big Camp 2021 Online, where we're talking about God's unsung heroes. Today I want to talk to you about being creative for God. Did you know that God made us in his image? He made us to be creative, and when we're creative for him, we think of others and we think of him. When I was a little kid, I loved doing creative things. I've always been a creative person, and one day I was out in the backyard. We had a little pond back there there, and it was muddy. And so I was playing with the mud and letting it ooze through my fingers, and then I looked at it and I thought, it looks like chocolate. And so I went into the house and I got one of my mom's baking trays, and I brought it out and I put it on my little red wagon next to me where I was sitting, and I picked up the mud and I would form it into little cookies and put it on the tray. And I made a whole bunch of them in rows, just like Mom would if she's going to put it in the oven. And then I took that little tray and I put it out on a rock and I let it sit out there for a few hours until they baked and they changed from a chocolatey wet look to a chocolatey brown look, and they really looked like chocolate cookies. And so I took them over to my sister and I said, "Look what I just made! I made a bunch of chocolate cookies!" And she said, "Those aren't chocolate cookies, that's dirt! You made them out of dirt!" And I said, "No, I did— well, yes, I did make them out of dirt, but because I let the sun bake them, the sun baked them into chocolate." And I picked up one of the cookies and I took a little tiny bite, but I made it look like a bigger bite. Oh, that is the best chocolate cookie. You know why? Because it was made and cooked by the sun. It's so delicious. You have to try one. I'm not going to eat your dirt cookie. I said, it's not dirt, it's chocolate. It's so good. You have to try it. And so finally she said, okay, I will. I'll have a little bite. And she took it and she bit it. "Ugh, gross! It's dirt! Why you— that's so gross! Why did you lie to me?" And I laughed, and I thought it was so funny. You know, I was being creative. But is that the kind of creativity God gives us, to be creative? No. I was being creative to make myself happy. I was being selfish and creative. I didn't care about my sister. But you know, while we were camping, one morning when I got up, I looked and we had all the leftovers from nachos from the night before. And I thought, hmm, my wife's in the shower. You know what I'm going to do? And I took them and I chopped them up and I chopped up the green onions and I chopped up the capsicum and I chopped up the mushrooms and I put them all into a pan and I let them cook over the little camp stove and I cooked them. And while they were cooking, my wife came walking back and I put some salt and some oil on them and I cooked them up. And as she walked in, I said, I'm making something special for you. And she said, "Ooh, it smells good." And then a little bit later when the mushrooms had gotten smaller because of the moisture, I took a couple eggs and I cracked them into a bowl and I whisked them up and I poured them over the top of the frying vegetables. And I waited for them to cook and I sprinkled a little cheese. I folded it in half and I took it out of the pan and it came out beautifully. And I put it on a plate and I gave my wife a beautiful omelet. And I said, "Here, this is what I made for you." And she said, "Oh wow, it looks so good." And then she started eating it and she said, "Mmm, this is so delicious." It was a lot more delicious than those mud cookies. And you know what the difference was? I didn't make the omelet for me. I made it for my wife. I used my creativity for someone else. I made— really, I made that omelet because God made me creative. And I made it for someone that I love, just like God makes things for us because he loves us. Today I want to tell you the Bible story about Bezalel and Oholiab. They were friends and they were creative. God made them so creative that when he needed his tabernacle to be made in the desert, he called on them specifically. Moses had taken all the children from Egypt and they'd marched out into the desert across the Red Sea, and now they were marching through the desert and God said, I want you to build a special place to worship me, a place where I I can live in your community. I can tent with you. And he said, here's the instructions. And he gave Moses the instructions. But he didn't just say build walls, build a roof. He said, build the walls out of this and build the roof out of this and build this inside. And he said, and build this out of this kind of material and this out of this kind of material. And it was so specific that finally Moses said, where are we going to get all this stuff? And God said, ask the people. I have not asked you to build out of anything that you do not already have. In your community. And so Moses went and he said to the people, we need red fabric, we need purple fabric, we need gold, we need silver, we need gemstones, we need— and he started listing all these things to build a tabernacle for God. So please bring all those things in. And so the people just started bringing the stuff in, and then the piles were getting huge. And then God said, okay, there's two men that I have put my spirit in especially, and they're creatives. One's name is Bezalel, and Bezalel is going to make the Ark of the Covenant, which is is going to have my special implements inside of it, and he's going to make the angels that are on top of it, and he's going to cover the whole thing in gold. Bezalel has been gifted by my spirit to make beautiful things. He's a creative. And Oholiab, you're going to ask Oholiab to come because he is a craftsman like none other. He can make anything, and he is going to bring people together, and they are going to make the rest of this tabernacle. And so Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and they came, and Moses told them what they were going to do, and they got so excited because they were creatives. And they're like, we knew that God had given us these gifts for a reason, and now we get to build this for God. And so they started working on everything, and Oholiab was working on his Ark of the Covenant. I mean, Bezalel was working on his Ark of the Covenant, and Oholiab was working on the walls. You know, God had said, I want you to put an angel in every single bit of the curtain. Every section of the curtain has to have another an angel embroidered in it. And so Aholiab and his men embroidered beautiful angels into the curtain that went all the way around the tabernacle. And then I want you to build the walls out of this, and I want you to build— and they followed all the instructions. And as they were doing this, the people kept bringing stuff until one day Bezalel said to Moses, Moses, you got to come over here. We have already laid out all the stuff we need to use, and all of that is extra. And the people are still bringing more stuff. Can you please ask them to stop bringing stuff? Tell them that we have everything we need. So Moses said, yes, I can do that. And he called all the people. We have a special meeting. Everyone come to the special meeting. Now, you imagine if your church pastor said this. Moses said to the people, you have given enough to God. We don't need anything else from you. You— God has everything he needs now for B'ezet Ha'ezavah. He's got quite a name. You try to say it. And so Behesalel— Behesalel— for Behesalel and Aholyab had everything they needed to finish the temple. And so Moses told the people, just stop bringing stuff. God has everything he needs. And so they did. They stopped bringing stuff. And the temple, the tabernacle was finished. And for the rest of the time while they marched through the desert, they had this beautiful place that whenever they stopped, they set it up, the tabernacle, and God was able to be with the people. They were able to worship him. And he could be that close to them because he'd made a place so special, so holy, that they could be with him. And that place that was so special and so holy was made because God had gifted people with creativity so that they could use their creativity not for themselves, but for others and for God. At the very end of creation week, God created people. He created you and me. And when he created us, he said that he made us in his image. The word for image in Greek is icon. We are icons of God. You know what an icon is? An icon is that little picture on your computer or on your iPad, on your phone, that opens the app you want to use. You tap the picture and it opens the app. You tap the icon and it opens the program. We are icons of Jesus. So when somebody taps us, when somebody walks up and starts a conversation, when somebody laughs about something we've said or whatever, they are actually seeing what we think of Jesus, because we know we were created in his image. I want to challenge you with a fun idea, because you're creative, just like God is. You're creative because he made you creative like he is. Why not draw an icon of yourself, a picture that represents the gifts that God has given you? You're unique. There's nobody like you. How has God created you creative differently than anyone else? What would the icon look like? Of you. Have some fun today drawing that little picture, a picture that represents you and the way God created you special. Thank you for listening so much today and for enjoying these stories and the fun that we've had. I want you to bow your heads now as we talk to God and thank him for making us creative. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for this week that we've had together, these fun stories about unsung heroes. Today we learned about Bezalel and Aholiab, and how they made so many beautiful things for you and for your tabernacle. We know that you've created us creative as well, that you've given us gifts. And we ask that as we use those gifts for you, that you would help us to feel the joy that it is to serve you by loving you and loving others. Help us to use our creativity not for ourselves, but for you and for others so that we can be your icons. Created in your image. In your name. Amen.