The Weight of Glory
[God's Glory - Week II]

Pastor Clay NeSmith | Sep. 21, 2025

Notes

The glory of God is both beautiful and heavy–it’s not something one person can carry alone. God designed His people to reflect His glory together. Kavod is a Hebrew word that translates to glory, honor, respect, dignity, or weight . In a biblical context, it refers to the weightiness, glory, and awe-inspiring presence of God, as seen in the cloud filling the Tabernacle in Exodus. In a broader, social, and moral sense, kavod signifies a person’s inherent worth and the actions that show them respect, originating from the idea that all people are created in God’s image and thus deserve dignity.

Then he hung the curtains forming the courtyard around the Tabernacle and the altar. And he set up the curtain at the entrance of the courtyard. So at last Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.

Exodus 40:33-34

What began as God’s glory filling the Tabernacle in the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. Through Jesus, God’s Spirit doesn’t just dwell among His people, but within them. Those of us in the Church today have the Holy Spirit living within us.

Read Numbers 11:10-17. Moses felt crushed under the weight of leading alone, but God’s answer was shared leadership through His Spirit. Moses was trying to do things alone. He and the people were both misunderstanding God’s glory. No one person is ever meant to do it all alone. We are meant to do ministry together, each of us bearing some of the weight. When we try to do it all on our own, or if we just sit and soak in without taking our part of the weight, we become miserable.

Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this…There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11

The Spirit decides what gift we each receive, but every gift has one purpose: to permeate the world with God’s glory. The Holy Spirit will help us understand what part we are to play, and He chooses what gifts to give us. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness because they weren’t willing to play the part God wanted them to play–they just wanted to look backwards.

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it… All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

1 Corinthians 12:18, 27

God puts every part where He wants it. We are not only a part chosen by God, but designed by Him to function where we are placed. It’s very comforting to know knows which part He has chosen us to be, and we can walk fully in that part. So, how our part in God’s glory? Here are five practices: we are specially that God already do we live out

  1. Surrender our lives to Christ (Colossians 1:18). Jesus is the head of the Church, and the body is to function in sync with Him.
  2. Commune with God (Philippians 4:6-7). God wants to commune High God wants to hear everything that is in your heart and on your mind. with each of us. The Most
  3. Keep the sword sharp (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12). The sword of the Spirit, the Bible, cuts through your spirit to define who you are–so that other spirits can’t. We can’t know who we are in Jesus apart from the word of God.
  4. Participate (Ephesians 5:21). Get involved. Work with God’s people. Volunteer! God will speak to you through your participation and He will help you find your place. Ephesians 5:21 is speaking of husband and wife relationships; just as spouses submit to each other, we as followers of Jesus submit to Him.
  5. Stay full of God’s Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-20). Be obedient to obedient to what the Spirit tells you. As you obey, He will continue to fill you up. what God’s Word says. Be God’s glory is too heavy for one. But together, as the body of Christ, filled His kavod to the world. with His Spirit, we reflect

Group Questions

  1. How does it change your perspective to think of God’s glory as “heavy”?
  2. Exodus 40 shows God’s glory filling the Tabernacle. What does it mean that today God’s dwelling place? we are
  3. Moses felt crushed under the way in your faith or responsibilities? weight of leading alone (Numbers 11). Have you ever felt that
  4. What gifts or strengths do you see God using in you?

Prayer

Thank you for choosing to dwell in us. We understand that we can’t carry your glory alone. Teach us to surrender fully, to commune with you daily, to stay sharp in your Word, and to serve together as one body. Fill us with your Spirit so that we reflect your glory to the world.