The Temple of God Building the Temple [Part Four] PRECIOUS FURNISHINGS

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1 The Temple of God Building the Temple [Part Four] PRECIOUS FURNISHINGS [Play Video showing 3 rd Temple]? Tech Insider There are still over 1,500 undiscovered minerals throughout the world. Adding to the list of over 5,000 that we do know of. But importantly, these minerals can help us learn more about how the earth works. These minerals are crucial to everything we take for granted. Life itself is only possible thanks to all these unique minerals. Clearly I ve got to start giving the rocks more credit. [PROP: Put a shovel down] POINT ONE: Right Purpose: To construct a temple for the presence of God so He can draw people to Himself (For us, the temple is our very body) POINT TWO: Righteous Person: We must be faithful and humble. Like Solomon, we need God s wisdom. It enables us to live well, a life of significance for God s kingdom. We have the righteousness of Jesus. POINT THREE: True Peace [The Right Time] King David desired to build God s temple but that wasn t God s will and we re told he was busy fighting in wars. It is the right time for you and me. Jesus won, He said It is finished! POINT FOUR: The Proper Foundation What should our Foundation be? The Chief Cornerstone, Jesus, Son of God. What are our large, costly and hewn stones? Stones of solid Faith hewn from every trial, deliverance, answered prayer and revelation from God. This is NOT blind faith; our faith is based on the very Word of God and is therefore reasonable. Faith is costly.to our own desires and lordship of our lives. Are we prepared to pay it? Jesus paid the highest price, He bought your property. How do we lay the foundation of the temple, how do we move these stones into place? 1. Firstly, by obedience: 2. Secondly, by spending quiet time with Him and cherishing the holy sanctuary, WALK WITH HIM THROUGHOUT THE DAY! 3. Finally, with each other. We need to help each other, work together to build our individual temples and ultimately our church too. We re knitted together for strength.

2 4. POINT FIVE: The Precious Furnishings From 1 Kings 7:13 Solomon finished the temple (7 years) however there were still a few things needed. He called on a skilled worker in brass to finish the precious temple furnishings. Great detail is provided in Scripture so clearly it was a big deal. We too must seek one who is skilled in all things Holy Spirit to do the work we can t in furnishing our temple. 1 Kings 7:51 * King David s dedications were also brought into the house of the Lord. What were they? 1 Chronicles 29:6-9 New King James Version (NKJV) 6 Then the leaders of the fathers houses, leaders of the tribes of Israel, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the officers over the king s work, offered willingly. 7 They gave for the work of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. 8 And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the LORD, into the hand of Jehiel [a] the Gershonite. 9 Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the LORD; and King David also rejoiced greatly. 1 Kings 8 * The Ark of the Covenant was brought in. What a moment that must have been? Can you imagine the celebration! This was a miracle, this was the fruit of years of work, battles and struggle, wrestling with the Lord, this was victory! We need to be the same If you ve invited Jesus to make His dwelling place, His temple, inside your very heart under the new covenant - That s a cause for celebration, that s a victory! You are permitted to enter boldly into the holy of holies WOW! That s precious and powerful. We read in 1 Kings 8:11 that the Levites (the priests) could not stand to minister because of God s glory that was present. IF YOU VE REPENTED OF YOUR SIN (anything contrary to God s laws and ways) AND ACCEPTED THE GIFT OF JESUS, YOU HAVE BEEN MADE WORTHY TO COMMUNE WITH GOD, YOU CAN ENTER THE HOLY OF HOLIES! You can talk to Him about ANYTHING! Make sure you do, often. When you do you ll know what it is you have been given and you will want to do your part to glorify Him. Remember we re called to expand the Kingdom of God. Put your heart into this because your heart is where your treasure is (Matthew 6:21). Furnish your Godly temple with precious, eternal things - BUILD WITH THE LORD. Finally Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord an awesome prayer relevant as ever to us today (I encourage you to read it yourselves in 1 Kings 8:22-61). It confirms our weakness and need of His grace, God s amazing faithfulness, righteousness, forgiveness and His covenant with us His servants. It honours God.

3 What Solomon achieved with God s blessing blew the world away the wisdom, the splendour, the blessings and favour, the temple ALL OF IT GLORIFED THE LORD. We may not be earthly kings but we re called to do the same. The world noticed, dignities came to see this wonder for themselves and even they blessed the name of the Lord (e.g. Queen of Sheba). Sounds like what we re called to do. Keep everything of real value in the Temple of God and for the Temple of God. This is where the costly stones belong, put your treasures and gems in there where they will be eternally safe. Trust the creator of the universe with everything i.e. your family, loved ones, friends, your life, work, pain, joy, dreams but most importantly all of you mind, body and soul the physical and spiritual things are His. Matthew 6:19-20 New King James Version (NKJV) 19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. What is it the Lord desires of us? Sanctification (to become more Christ like). How? He sent us the helper - Holy Spirit equips us, guides us and teaches us. Remember though we must cooperate and work with Him (faith without works is dead James 2:14). We must offer up the 6 TH Hand [as per the earlier message from Pastor Nigel inspired by Jentezen Franklin]. The 6 th hand represents our human ability, what we can do. Once we ve done our part, God comes in supernaturally with the 7 th hand to complete the work. What are the fruits of Christ likeness? Galatians 5:22-23 New King James Version (NKJV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Each of these is a gem, precious from the living God THESE GEMS ARE VALUABLE AND NECESSARY IN GOD S KINGDOM: Clarification we re not seeking money, worldly wealth or material things above God. I m talking about the eternal things of God and His kingdom, precious to Him. That s what we work for. Work to find eternal gems that will last. As Jesus said, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). The Lord will be glorified through you and you will benefit that s a win/win deal you ll never beat. Matthew 13:44-46 New King James Version (NKJV) The Parable of the Hidden Treasure 44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

4 These Scriptures tells us when you find Jesus and receive the revelation of Him (the key to God s kingdom) you know it s valuable! You will give everything for Him and to become like Him. There s nothing more precious to you He s the ultimate gem. Using the natural world as an example, where might you find precious stones and gems? [In the ground] How do you get them? [By digging] Tech Insider The real hidden gem Just last week the world got its first glimpse of a new mineral. One that we have known about and synthesised, but never seen naturally. It s called calcium silicate perovskite, and it was found trapped inside a diamond. Which is the key reason why it has eluded us till now, as Science Trends explains: The reason for this is that calcium silicate perovskite had never before been kept stable on the planet s surface. This is the first time they have been able to. This mineral is forged in the Earth s belly and whenever it comes up to the surface its carbon bonds become rearranged due to the reduction of pressure that takes place. Despite finally being beheld by human eyes, the mineral is actually believed to be extremely common. Thought to be the fourth most common mineral within the earth. It s just hidden deep inside the mantle, below the crust. Roughly 700 kilometres straight down from the floor below us. We can t even keep it from disappearing at the moment, but in time I believe we ll find a way to stop that. Then we could unlock the secrets of deep earth mining. Minerals that survive in extreme conditions. Withstanding high pressure, extreme heat and more. I can imagine some possibilities already, but they re just that imaginings. They won t stay that way forever. I don t know if people will ever make it to the centre of the earth, but we will try to explore it. And while there probably won t be giant mushrooms and monsters below us, there is more likely a wealth of untapped resources. And those resources could unlock a wave of new technologies and possibilities. Regards, Ryan Clarkson-Ledward, Editor, Tech Insider

5 Did you get that? I think that paints a beautiful picture of what God wants us to be doing. Consider the point made that the very special mineral was found inside a diamond deep in the Earth. Remember, to God you are a precious diamond. This valuable mineral could represent Holy Spirit. At times, as you allow Him to change you there may be some pressure. He is the potter and we are the clay and we want Him to mould us. Another way to look at it is to replace the concept of pressure with His presence. In being so deep in God, surrounded by Him and filled with Him, we can bring the reality of Jesus up from deep within us. Be stable and strong enough that human eyes can behold Him as He is brought to the surface. In other words, make Him visible to a blind world with our lives. Holy Spirit gives us the shovel (the tools we need) and will show you where you need to dig (during your quiet times, prayer and in the Word), dig deep to find the truly precious stones. This is your life s work.store them up in the temple of God all for His glory. God has new things for you, many not yet revealed like the natural gems! Excavate! Dig deep, He has more for us. Find the gems with so much potential to change the world they will bring revelation of the glory of God. Allow me to share an analogy of love. It sound like a poem doesn t it? It s not! Even a non believer can typically understand a basic love. It s typical for people to love their children and spouse when they do and behave as expected or wanted. This type of love is quite shallow. It is an abundant gem usually found just by scratching the surface. What about loving people who don t like you? Might have to dig a bit deeper. What about those who hate you? Dig a bit deeper still. What about people who hate you so much they want to kill you. Then you let them because of your love for them. That might require digging deep into God to obtain that rare gem maybe 700 kms for the one the world hasn t discovered yet. God has many gems for us if we care to dig deep. These minerals are crucial to everything we take for granted. Life itself is only possible thanks to all these unique minerals. Clearly I ve got to start giving the rocks more credit. Are we not sometimes the same with the gems of God? They re critical to our life in Christ. Let s dig in. It s simple really, just keep going in what He tells you to do. It s hard work but He gives you rest and strength. The deeper you go, you might run into rock ask the Lord for an excavator, backhoe or rock breaker! What are you finding hard in life right now? Do you know, YOU RE DIGGING & MAYBE THERE S SOME STUBBORN ROCK? If you approach it as the Lord tells you, you re going to find that gem BUT JUST KEEP GOING! WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE IS BEYOND OUR FULL COMPREHENSION, WHAT HE WILL DO IS AMAZING? WILL YOU TRUST HIM AND WORK WITH HIM TO SEE HIS KINGDOM COME? WHAT WILL YOU FURNISH YOUR TEMPLE WITH? WHAT LEGACY WILL YOU LEAVE? PART FIVE Protecting the Temple [next time] ALTAR CALL If you haven t accepted Jesus yet then you re digging in vain. Do it today!