WEBVTT 00:00:16.429 --> 00:00:21.469 I want to read for you a few verses from first chapter, uh 1 Kings chapter 8. 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:29.549 1 Kings chapter 8, and I'm gonna read the first 11 verses of a very long chapter, and then we are gonna go into the word from there. 00:00:29.789 --> 00:00:30.829 You ready? 00:00:31.869 --> 00:00:32.429 Good. 00:00:32.750 --> 00:00:34.989 First Kings chapter 8, verse 1. 00:00:35.230 --> 00:00:53.069 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 00:00:53.709 --> 00:01:12.349 And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month, and all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of the meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent. 00:01:12.510 --> 00:01:14.829 The priests and the Levites brought them up. 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:29.869 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled before him were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 00:01:30.189 --> 00:01:40.269 Then the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 00:01:40.750 --> 00:01:48.189 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. 00:01:48.429 --> 00:01:58.269 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside, and they are there to this day. 00:01:58.509 --> 00:02:10.590 There was nothing in the ark except two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, and they came out of the land of Egypt. 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:11.710 Verse 10. 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:27.870 And when the priests came out, came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. 00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:29.230 Let's stop there. 00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:31.310 Let's pray. 00:02:31.790 --> 00:02:44.350 Father, I pray this morning, as we have read your word and will continue to read it this morning, that you would speak to each one of us individually and speak to us as a church family. 00:02:44.670 --> 00:02:59.390 Lord, we approach your word not as a mere historical document, but the living embodiment of God, the truth of God, the life of God in these words for us here today, in this day and in this age. 00:02:59.630 --> 00:03:02.750 So, Father, this morning I submit myself to your word. 00:03:03.070 --> 00:03:16.430 I pray that each of us would submit ourselves to your word, that we would hear only what you want us to be heard, and we would respond likewise and act as those who have heard and encountered the living God. 00:03:16.670 --> 00:03:18.590 I pray this in Jesus' name. 00:03:18.909 --> 00:03:19.550 Amen. 00:03:20.830 --> 00:03:21.469 Amen. 00:03:21.790 --> 00:03:30.909 The picture of the dedication of the temple of Solomon, the picture of the cloud descending, and the priests could not stand. 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:37.790 It's a picture that has formed much of my hope and my expectation of what a corporate service could look like. 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:41.150 What does it look like to stand in the presence of the Lord? 00:03:41.390 --> 00:03:45.469 I remember many years ago I was in London at the and I walked into St. 00:03:45.550 --> 00:03:46.510 Paul's Cathedral. 00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:47.550 Has anyone seen St. 00:03:47.630 --> 00:03:49.230 Paul's Cathedral in London? 00:03:49.469 --> 00:03:50.670 Oof, amazing. 00:03:50.830 --> 00:03:59.630 I mean, it's one of those buildings I walked into, and I don't know what it was, but I walked into it and was overwhelmed as you walked into the building. 00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:07.790 And it wasn't just the size, it wasn't just the beauty, it wasn't just the choir that started singing as we were walking around the building. 00:04:07.950 --> 00:04:13.790 There was something of uh, for me, it felt like God, the presence of God in that place. 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.269 And I heard Goosey's just talking about it right now. 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:27.069 Um, that the presence of God in that room, and I've wondered, it's been many years, uh, as I was awestruck in this building, and I've been in some incredible churches around the world. 00:04:27.310 --> 00:04:28.189 What was it? 00:04:28.350 --> 00:04:35.149 Was it the was it God's presence that had been acknowledged and worshipped there for so many hundreds of years? 00:04:35.469 --> 00:04:37.870 Was it the architecture? 00:04:38.029 --> 00:04:38.990 Was it emotion? 00:04:39.149 --> 00:04:40.990 Was it, I mean, something else? 00:04:41.149 --> 00:04:42.990 Um and I don't know. 00:04:43.229 --> 00:04:45.310 I I wonder what was that? 00:04:45.549 --> 00:04:47.149 But I don't think I'm alone in this. 00:04:47.229 --> 00:05:00.750 I I think each of us have a version of a moment like this where it's a building or it's a night of worship in the room, and you're you're wondering what was that feeling, what was that sense that I had as I walked in that place. 00:05:00.909 --> 00:05:11.149 Maybe it's a sunset on a camping trip, or you're sitting at the beach and you're you get overwhelmed with a feeling, a sense of awe, an ache for more. 00:05:12.909 --> 00:05:26.589 In December 2024, we watched as the Notre Dame was, Notre Dame, as they said in Paris, was was opened again after it was burnt in in 2019, I think it was. 00:05:26.829 --> 00:05:30.669 And we watched as the world was gathering, as the Parisians were gathering. 00:05:30.750 --> 00:05:38.029 And if you've been in France, you know it's mostly a godless country, no longer acknowledging the presence of the living God. 00:05:38.189 --> 00:05:53.310 But there, hundreds of people gathered, and the picture showed us people just crying and weeping at the at the beauty of the Notre Dame open again, and and and this longing to me was just so evident on our hearts. 00:05:53.549 --> 00:05:57.069 And I think we all still ache for this glory. 00:05:57.229 --> 00:05:58.990 We want God to show up. 00:05:59.149 --> 00:06:03.629 Uh, old philosopher Blaise Pascal talked about the hole in our hearts this way. 00:06:03.789 --> 00:06:14.189 He said, this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, God Himself. 00:06:14.750 --> 00:06:16.909 Others have summarized these words like this. 00:06:17.069 --> 00:06:24.829 They say, There's a God-shaped hole in each one of us, and a hole that only God can fill himself. 00:06:25.789 --> 00:06:30.430 But many of us are stuck in one of two places as we think about this ache. 00:06:30.509 --> 00:06:45.709 You know, some of us chase this feeling at one more conference, and then I can get my feels on, or one more worship night, or one more moment, and we we're chasing moments where we can feel and experience that ache being fulfilled. 00:06:45.949 --> 00:06:49.149 And others of us distrust the feeling. 00:06:49.389 --> 00:06:53.629 And you hear things like, well, was that God or was that the lighting? 00:06:53.870 --> 00:06:59.069 Was that God or was that the smoke cloud that that gets pumped into the room? 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:12.269 And we wonder what was that feeling, that that sense that I couldn't explain, and we distrust what it is, but we have this relationship with this longing for God, for the glory of God, something deeper. 00:07:12.829 --> 00:07:24.509 But I want to show you what I believe this text is showing us today, is that that God wasn't after just visiting with his people, God was about moving in. 00:07:24.990 --> 00:07:38.589 He moved into a structure, he moved into a temple that was built for his name, and he showed that by his glory, the weight of his glory being uh evident, visible to all who saw. 00:07:38.750 --> 00:07:45.870 You see, there's a difference between a guest moving in or visiting and a resident moving in. 00:07:46.829 --> 00:07:47.709 There's a big difference. 00:07:47.870 --> 00:07:50.029 Kathy and I have hosted a number of people. 00:07:50.189 --> 00:08:08.109 It's one thing for a guest to come and there's a defined time and a defined hour, but when there's someone who moves in and you're there for a week or I think our longest is five months, there's something that that person can bring or not bring to the peace and the flow in your house. 00:08:08.269 --> 00:08:11.389 When someone moves in, there's a disruption. 00:08:12.109 --> 00:08:15.229 Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. 00:08:15.949 --> 00:08:17.469 Let me set the scene for us. 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:24.269 Alright, we're we've been talking about the dedication of the temple, and we are in a series called The Era of the Kings. 00:08:24.430 --> 00:08:41.950 If you are visiting with us, we have been slowly going through the Old Testament arc of the story, where we started the first few months of the year with Genesis, the creation, all the way through Abraham, and that was a very significant time in the story of God's dealing with these people. 00:08:42.190 --> 00:08:46.269 Then from April, May, June, we looked at the era of the patriarchs. 00:08:46.430 --> 00:09:01.949 We looked at Moses, we looked at Abraham and Jacob and Isaac, we look at Joseph, we looked at the time of the patriarchs and what that meant, and how each one of them, in a sense, was pointing us to the greater, to Jesus who was to come. 00:09:02.189 --> 00:09:09.230 We are now looking at the era of kings, starting with where Saul became the first human king over God's people. 00:09:09.470 --> 00:09:20.189 David last week, this week, looking briefly at Solomon next week again, and we're gonna look over the next few months at what happens when human kings took on a place that God wanted to take on himself. 00:09:20.429 --> 00:09:26.750 God wanted to be our king, and God is our king, but we're looking at the history of the Old Testament story. 00:09:26.909 --> 00:09:43.389 The last few months of the year, we're gonna look at an era in the history of God's people where they had no king, they had no patriarchs, they were prophets who kept trying to bring them back to God, leading all the way up to the coming of Jesus. 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:46.110 That's kind of where we are in our year. 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:48.269 But here we are in the era of kings. 00:09:48.429 --> 00:09:57.470 This scene is around 959 BC, and it's the high point of Israel's entire Old Testament story, in a sense. 00:09:57.710 --> 00:10:01.389 David's son Solomon is king, the borders are secure. 00:10:01.549 --> 00:10:08.909 Solomon has finished the most expensive building project in all history of the Israel people. 00:10:09.069 --> 00:10:12.909 Seven years of work, gold-lined rooms, pretty much. 00:10:13.069 --> 00:10:16.110 It was an impressive, impressive building. 00:10:16.350 --> 00:10:24.590 He then schedules the inauguration of this building months after he finished it to coincide with a feast of tabernacles. 00:10:24.750 --> 00:10:28.590 The feast of tabernacles in the seventh month, that detail is given to us. 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:32.829 It was the feast where Israel remembered the wilderness here. 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:40.750 When God used to lead them through the wilderness, but he used to be in a tent amongst a people without a home. 00:10:40.909 --> 00:10:51.870 So the feast of tabernacles was to celebrate that, and at that feast, here we are, here is the physical building, the temple, and he wanted to do co-inside those together. 00:10:52.110 --> 00:10:58.189 This in itself is a statement that the God of the wandering tent is coming to rest. 00:10:58.429 --> 00:11:07.470 The God of a wandering tent is coming to establish, to uh inhabit a place and a people with a little bit more permanence. 00:11:08.509 --> 00:11:16.829 Another important context for us as we read this portion of scripture is that every other nation around Israel also built temples. 00:11:16.990 --> 00:11:22.669 But they built temples for their God, and mostly it was a containment system. 00:11:22.829 --> 00:11:26.750 It was a place where they fed their gods, a place where they would bow to their gods. 00:11:26.990 --> 00:11:43.789 Kathy and I were in Hong Kong, and we went to one of the Hindu temples, and you know, you you go and you see all these statues, and everybody would bring sacrifices and food and groceries and everything in their God, this contained area where they see God that way. 00:11:44.269 --> 00:11:46.590 So that was the picture that they were in. 00:11:47.149 --> 00:11:49.870 A temple, in a sense, was a containment system. 00:11:50.509 --> 00:11:56.990 Now, the same event I just read from 1 Kings chapter 8 is also recalled in 2 Chronicles chapter 7. 00:11:57.149 --> 00:11:58.429 Really fascinating to read this. 00:11:58.509 --> 00:12:02.110 I'm gonna read you the three verses from verse 1. 00:12:02.669 --> 00:12:09.710 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, now the temple dedication happened, it's a long prayer that Solomon prayed. 00:12:10.029 --> 00:12:21.149 Soon as he finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven, says verse 1, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 00:12:21.549 --> 00:12:27.870 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. 00:12:28.110 --> 00:12:45.710 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, For he is good and his steadfast love endures forever. 00:12:45.949 --> 00:12:50.990 For he is good and his steadfast loves uh love endures forever. 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:54.590 I want to look at three movements through the story today. 00:12:54.829 --> 00:12:58.350 Let's start with how God moves in to the temple. 00:12:58.429 --> 00:13:06.590 In a sense, we're gonna unpack a little bit of Solomon's prayer that he prays at the dedication, and then we're gonna look at what happened after. 00:13:06.829 --> 00:13:13.629 What happened after the glory of the Lord came, how everything stopped and the Lord established himself there. 00:13:13.870 --> 00:13:15.389 So let's start at the beginning. 00:13:15.710 --> 00:13:19.309 God doesn't just visit, friends, he moves in. 00:13:19.710 --> 00:13:21.949 God doesn't just visit, he moves in. 00:13:22.029 --> 00:13:27.549 The scene that we're looking at is this deliberate replay of something we saw in Exodus chapter 40. 00:13:27.789 --> 00:13:32.269 The cloud descended on the mountain, the glory fills, and the minister can't work. 00:13:32.350 --> 00:13:33.870 We've seen this before. 00:13:34.350 --> 00:13:40.029 In the tabernacle, in the tent, it's the same kind of picture we've been noticing. 00:13:40.350 --> 00:13:44.990 But the one difference is that was a tent, this is a house. 00:13:45.470 --> 00:13:51.069 A tent is where you live in when you're moving around or you're crazy and have crazy hobbies. 00:13:52.189 --> 00:13:53.549 You campers. 00:13:53.710 --> 00:13:59.389 Um a house is what you live in when you've arrived and something's been established. 00:13:59.549 --> 00:14:01.949 And God is making a statement with this, friends. 00:14:02.029 --> 00:14:06.029 It's that He is not passing through, He is staying. 00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:12.110 The Hebrew word for the word glory, the cloud, the glory of the Lord was visible. 00:14:12.269 --> 00:14:15.870 The Hebrew word there is kavod, uh, k-a-v-r-d. 00:14:16.110 --> 00:14:19.870 It means weight in a sense, it means heaviness. 00:14:20.429 --> 00:14:39.149 Perhaps when you think of the word glory, you think, you know, light and shining or something you'd see, but in the Hebrew sense, it wasn't that, it was a weight, uh a heaviness that came down upon the temple, so much so that the priest could not stand in the weight of the glory of the Lord. 00:14:39.949 --> 00:14:44.110 The Hebrew means something, uh it means something you'd feel. 00:14:44.509 --> 00:14:46.269 There is a mass to it. 00:14:47.149 --> 00:14:49.389 Verse 11 says the priest could not stand. 00:14:49.549 --> 00:14:50.669 So that's what it is. 00:14:50.750 --> 00:14:56.350 So when we pray for the glory of the Lord in this church, we've got to understand what we're asking for. 00:14:56.509 --> 00:15:08.429 When we pray for the glory of the Lord to come, the presence of the Lord to come, we're not praying for a vibe to happen or uh uh a feeling, uh an ambience. 00:15:08.750 --> 00:15:11.870 We're praying for the weight of the Lord. 00:15:12.189 --> 00:15:19.230 Sometimes when you and I have an encounter with the Lord and we have a revelation of who the Lord is, sometimes you lose words. 00:15:19.389 --> 00:15:20.669 I don't know what to say. 00:15:20.909 --> 00:15:22.669 How do I describe this? 00:15:23.230 --> 00:15:30.750 There's a weight, there's a seriousness of seeing and knowing and understanding the glory of the Lord. 00:15:30.990 --> 00:15:35.470 Now we may not see this cloud much or ever, and I'm praying for it. 00:15:35.549 --> 00:15:41.549 I want to see this cloud, but just because we don't see it doesn't mean the presence of the Lord isn't here. 00:15:41.870 --> 00:15:47.470 Even seeing the cloud at a dedication like this was pretty rare in the Old Testament story. 00:15:47.629 --> 00:15:51.389 It showed up at the inaugurations at the beginning, even in the New Testament. 00:15:51.549 --> 00:15:57.949 You saw uh the tongues of fire coming down on the men and women in Acts chapter 2 as they were waiting in the upper room. 00:15:58.269 --> 00:15:59.389 It's rare to see that. 00:15:59.470 --> 00:16:01.069 You can see, but it's very rare. 00:16:01.230 --> 00:16:04.909 But what's not rare is what happens when he moves in. 00:16:05.230 --> 00:16:07.549 His presence now is in that place. 00:16:07.789 --> 00:16:19.230 A tangible sense of God being there, and so we shouldn't confuse the ribbon-cutting ceremony with whether he's occupied the place or not. 00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:23.470 Just because we don't see the cloud every day doesn't mean he's not here. 00:16:23.789 --> 00:16:25.389 Doesn't mean he's not here. 00:16:26.189 --> 00:16:27.789 Does that make sense? 00:16:29.069 --> 00:16:31.789 And this should change the way we see our lives. 00:16:32.269 --> 00:16:36.750 Because I believe most of us, or many of us, treat God as a guest. 00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:45.230 We treat the the fact that God meets with his people like a guest appearance. 00:16:45.470 --> 00:16:51.230 I go to church and maybe we're there for 90 minutes, and there I can have an encounter with God. 00:16:51.389 --> 00:16:54.829 I can meet with this guest in my life. 00:16:55.069 --> 00:17:03.949 Or I have a really good playlist for when I'm feeling down and I put my worship playlist on, and now I'm just visiting with God again as a guest. 00:17:04.590 --> 00:17:10.829 Whereas what God wants to do, and he's showing us through this, is he's not wanting or waiting to arrive in your life. 00:17:10.910 --> 00:17:18.509 Friends, he's waiting to be noticed, he's waiting to be acknowledged as already moved in to your house. 00:17:18.670 --> 00:17:24.910 If you are a child of God, if you have given your life to Jesus, the Spirit of God is in you. 00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:33.150 And what this picture is showing us is in a very, very temple-building kind of sense, is that God wants to be in there and is in there. 00:17:33.389 --> 00:17:35.710 He dedicated it, he's in your life. 00:17:35.869 --> 00:17:38.910 Can you and I begin to learn how to acknowledge it? 00:17:39.230 --> 00:17:44.109 Recognize it, know that he has taken up residence in his life. 00:17:44.269 --> 00:17:46.990 This, I believe, is the big question for us today. 00:17:47.309 --> 00:17:49.950 Are you aware of his presence? 00:17:50.349 --> 00:17:52.910 Do you know he lives in you? 00:17:53.230 --> 00:18:00.269 Do we understand the significance of a picture 3,000 years ago versus a reality today? 00:18:00.430 --> 00:18:05.710 Do we know what that picture is showing us about what your life should look like in 2026? 00:18:08.349 --> 00:18:13.710 Second thing I'm looking at through this scripture is this fact that it's actually a question. 00:18:14.029 --> 00:18:16.910 Can God be contained in a house? 00:18:17.309 --> 00:18:18.910 Can God be contained in a house? 00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:22.109 We saw the image of this temple being built. 00:18:22.269 --> 00:18:28.190 The nations around them built uh temples to contain their gods and to have a location. 00:18:28.430 --> 00:18:37.710 But here at the inauguration of the most expensive building project, Solomon himself says this in 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 27. 00:18:38.109 --> 00:18:42.750 He says this, but will God indeed dwell on the earth? 00:18:42.910 --> 00:18:44.190 Question mark. 00:18:44.509 --> 00:18:48.589 Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you. 00:18:48.750 --> 00:18:51.710 How much less this house that I've built? 00:18:52.829 --> 00:18:54.109 Think about that. 00:18:54.509 --> 00:19:03.950 Seven years he built this building, seven years he prepared a place, he was fulfilling the dream his dad had, David had, to build a house for the Lord. 00:19:04.109 --> 00:19:08.509 And he's doing it, and he's doing at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. 00:19:08.589 --> 00:19:11.389 He's like, I don't, you're not gonna fit. 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:13.629 Can this building contain you? 00:19:13.789 --> 00:19:14.509 Of course not. 00:19:14.670 --> 00:19:18.109 The heavens are your home, the earth is your footstool. 00:19:18.349 --> 00:19:20.349 So, what are we doing here? 00:19:20.750 --> 00:19:26.990 In a sense, and we've got to realize that this house cannot hold him. 00:19:29.470 --> 00:19:31.309 He then starts his prayer. 00:19:31.549 --> 00:19:33.710 So we read the first 11 verses. 00:19:33.950 --> 00:19:41.069 He then starts the dedication of the temple, the glory of the Lord comes down, and here Solomon begins to pray. 00:19:41.309 --> 00:19:43.789 And he's praying for 66 verses. 00:19:43.950 --> 00:19:45.309 This whole chapter is long. 00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:49.710 Over 30 to 40 verses, he is praying a prayer to the Lord. 00:19:49.789 --> 00:19:53.470 And in this prayer, he's listing seven petitions to the Lord. 00:19:53.789 --> 00:19:57.629 Why this is interesting and actually really important, go find this. 00:19:58.109 --> 00:20:01.389 I want you to go read this chapter today when you leave here. 00:20:01.869 --> 00:20:08.430 Each of the seven petitions, in the middle of the petition, he says something like this: then here in heaven. 00:20:08.589 --> 00:20:12.029 Actually, he says it exactly the same way, then here in heaven. 00:20:12.190 --> 00:20:14.109 Go find those seven petitions. 00:20:14.430 --> 00:20:19.710 When we have war and we're struggling, then here in heaven and he asks the Lord. 00:20:19.869 --> 00:20:24.589 When when we sin and we fall short, then here in heaven. 00:20:24.750 --> 00:20:27.710 If famine happens in our land, then here in heaven. 00:20:27.869 --> 00:20:33.950 He's acknowledging the home and the place of God is in the heavens, the omnipresence of the Lord. 00:20:34.190 --> 00:20:42.430 But from the place of the temple where they meet with the Lord, and the ark is and the tablets are, from there they are praying. 00:20:42.509 --> 00:20:46.589 In a sense, this has become a house of prayer for the nations. 00:20:47.230 --> 00:20:50.589 Without saying those words, he has seven different prayers. 00:20:50.670 --> 00:20:55.069 He's praying what happens in defeat, what happens in war, what happens in sin. 00:20:55.230 --> 00:20:56.910 He even prays at the seventh one. 00:20:57.069 --> 00:20:58.990 What happens when we're in exile? 00:20:59.309 --> 00:21:07.230 In a sense, a foreshadowing, knowing this is coming, because for hundreds of years the whole nation of Israel was in exile. 00:21:07.869 --> 00:21:09.389 They were wondering. 00:21:09.549 --> 00:21:12.910 He says, When we're in exile, will you hear from heaven? 00:21:13.069 --> 00:21:14.109 Will you hear from heaven? 00:21:14.269 --> 00:21:15.389 Will you answer this? 00:21:16.029 --> 00:21:23.230 The house of the Lord is the place of prayer for the people and for the nations. 00:21:24.349 --> 00:21:29.710 See, Solomon now builds his house that the card of the heaven, it can't contain him. 00:21:30.109 --> 00:21:42.750 But from that place, a falling people, a failing people who go through sin and famine and wars and exile can come and have an address. 00:21:43.309 --> 00:21:44.829 That's what this building is. 00:21:44.990 --> 00:21:48.509 It's not a box for God, friends, it's address for you and I. 00:21:48.750 --> 00:21:52.509 For the day the crops die, they can come and pray to the Lord. 00:21:52.589 --> 00:21:58.029 For the day that we blow it, we can come into the place where the presence of the Lord is. 00:21:58.349 --> 00:22:04.750 The uncontainable God made himself addressable in this picture. 00:22:06.109 --> 00:22:10.829 At the center of this petition, verse 41. 00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:15.950 If you're in 1 Kings 18, uh 8, verse 41 to 43, let me paraphrase. 00:22:16.430 --> 00:22:16.750 A little bit. 00:22:16.829 --> 00:22:33.150 He says, likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people Israel comes from a far country because of your name, hear in heaven, your dwelling place, in order that all the people of the earth may know your name. 00:22:33.549 --> 00:22:34.670 Isn't that cool? 00:22:34.910 --> 00:22:38.109 It's like he's praying 614's vision statement. 00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:40.589 Until everyone knows Jesus. 00:22:40.750 --> 00:22:41.950 Say that with me. 00:22:44.029 --> 00:22:45.230 He's praying, look at this. 00:22:45.309 --> 00:23:01.309 He's saying, when a foreigner, foreigner, non-Israelite, comes to your people from a far country because of your name, here in heaven, your dwelling place, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name. 00:23:01.950 --> 00:23:04.509 In order that everyone who knows Jesus. 00:23:04.670 --> 00:23:08.190 Friends, his presence was never just for the room. 00:23:08.990 --> 00:23:11.869 His presence was for the healing of the nations. 00:23:12.509 --> 00:23:17.710 His presence was to be a place of intercession for those who don't yet know. 00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:25.549 Now, some of you may be thinking, well, if God is everywhere, well, why gather? 00:23:25.789 --> 00:23:27.069 Why gather in a building? 00:23:27.470 --> 00:23:31.309 Why pray at all if God is everywhere, which we're seeing here? 00:23:31.470 --> 00:23:35.629 And here's my short answer is because you're not a ghost. 00:23:35.950 --> 00:23:37.869 You are a body. 00:23:38.990 --> 00:23:40.190 Make sense? 00:23:41.230 --> 00:23:43.069 You're a quiet crowd today. 00:23:43.309 --> 00:23:47.869 You're not a, you're you're a spiritual being, but in this earth, you're a body. 00:23:48.029 --> 00:23:49.069 We need a gathering. 00:23:49.230 --> 00:23:50.430 We need a place to come. 00:23:50.589 --> 00:23:51.710 We need rhythms. 00:23:51.869 --> 00:23:54.589 We need uh places, we need addresses. 00:23:54.829 --> 00:23:59.789 God's answer to being everywhere wasn't so that wasn't so that it doesn't matter where you are. 00:24:00.029 --> 00:24:04.029 His answer to being everywhere is so I can meet you where you are. 00:24:04.509 --> 00:24:05.309 I can meet you. 00:24:05.470 --> 00:24:13.789 And we as a church believe in the gathering of the saints, in rhythms of praying together, in rhythms of worshiping together. 00:24:14.029 --> 00:24:18.589 In Hebrews, the writer says, Don't neglect the gathering of the saints. 00:24:18.829 --> 00:24:23.710 Why is there this rhythm of coming together weekly and meeting in this room? 00:24:24.269 --> 00:24:34.990 It's not like on the checklist, it's so that we can come and pray together and minister to the Lord and be encouraged together and learn and grow together. 00:24:37.869 --> 00:24:44.029 God's presence isn't primarily something you feel, it's someone you address. 00:24:48.269 --> 00:24:50.190 The presence of the Lord. 00:24:50.910 --> 00:24:53.309 Now I want us to look at one more thing here. 00:24:53.869 --> 00:24:58.509 When God fills the house, things stop and people change. 00:24:59.230 --> 00:25:02.269 When God fills this house, look at what happens here. 00:25:02.670 --> 00:25:10.190 2 Chronicles chapter 7 tells us that the priest, verse 2, the priest could not enter the house of the Lord. 00:25:10.509 --> 00:25:12.990 The priest could not enter the house of the Lord. 00:25:13.389 --> 00:25:16.430 The professionals stopped doing work. 00:25:16.589 --> 00:25:17.710 They stopped ministering. 00:25:17.869 --> 00:25:19.230 They were unable to. 00:25:20.109 --> 00:25:23.470 The trained ministers because God was in the way. 00:25:24.269 --> 00:25:26.589 Another thing that happens, look at verse 3. 00:25:26.750 --> 00:25:29.950 They fall face down on the pavement and they say something. 00:25:30.269 --> 00:25:33.950 They weren't like, oh, that was a great experience, or that was awesome. 00:25:34.109 --> 00:25:34.990 Oh, what a night. 00:25:35.150 --> 00:25:39.950 They say he is good and his steadfast love endures forever. 00:25:40.349 --> 00:25:51.389 The real glory in experiencing and knowing the glory of the Lord produces a posture of being face down before the Lord and a truth, a declaration of who God is. 00:25:51.470 --> 00:25:57.629 When we feel and know and understand the weight of the Lord, it leads us to be a worshiping people. 00:25:59.629 --> 00:26:04.190 The mark of God's presence in this text is that the professionals got interrupted. 00:26:04.269 --> 00:26:07.869 Now, this this thought has been sitting with me all week long. 00:26:08.589 --> 00:26:10.829 We love ambiance. 00:26:11.309 --> 00:26:12.829 You know what I mean when I say that? 00:26:12.990 --> 00:26:15.389 Like we love to worship together. 00:26:15.549 --> 00:26:21.470 We we have a worship team that's so well trained, and just, I mean, it's like angels singing every week. 00:26:21.710 --> 00:26:22.829 Can I have a witness? 00:26:23.470 --> 00:26:24.589 You know, and it's beautiful. 00:26:24.750 --> 00:26:26.269 We we love good sounds. 00:26:26.349 --> 00:26:27.389 We have this guitar. 00:26:27.470 --> 00:26:29.150 You should see this pedal over here. 00:26:29.309 --> 00:26:31.869 There's like 17 computers just built in here. 00:26:32.029 --> 00:26:35.549 We like nice sounds, and this is a keyboard, it's called a Nord. 00:26:35.710 --> 00:26:39.150 We have a saying that where the Nord is, the Lord is, you know. 00:26:39.389 --> 00:26:41.309 It has the most beautiful sound. 00:26:41.389 --> 00:26:43.309 We love to create an atmosphere. 00:26:43.470 --> 00:26:44.109 Absolutely. 00:26:44.269 --> 00:26:51.710 When Kathy and I host people at our house, we we want to create an atmosphere where if you're visiting us, you're feeling welcome. 00:26:51.869 --> 00:27:05.150 So we put some nice music on, the candles are burning, Kathy's got this food going, and there's an atmosphere when you walk in, the dogs have been exiled outside because you know we want you to come in and experience it. 00:27:05.549 --> 00:27:11.950 The problem is when we get so good at it that we begin to confuse the Nord for the Lord. 00:27:13.789 --> 00:27:15.069 See what I did there? 00:27:15.389 --> 00:27:16.829 I just came to me right now. 00:27:16.990 --> 00:27:20.269 It just it just there was like a download from the Lord. 00:27:20.589 --> 00:27:24.509 We we confuse our excellent music for presence. 00:27:25.869 --> 00:27:28.910 Some churches put some smoke machines in. 00:27:28.990 --> 00:27:32.269 We confuse the smoke machine for the glory of the Lord. 00:27:32.509 --> 00:27:44.349 We confuse being so good and so professional at a great service with when the presence of the Lord actually came, the professionals couldn't even do their work. 00:27:45.069 --> 00:27:56.190 Now we've got to ask ourselves a question: are we so good at doing church and doing our services that we're uninterruptible with the actual weighty presence of the Lord? 00:27:56.750 --> 00:28:10.910 Is our program, our our schedule, is it is it interruptible so that when the glory of the Lord wants to appear and do something, we're not interrupted, we're yielded. 00:28:11.470 --> 00:28:13.389 We've got to ask ourselves this question. 00:28:13.549 --> 00:28:16.190 This is a picture this story shows me. 00:28:16.670 --> 00:28:22.829 Charles Spurgeon in 1860, uh, the weekly opened their own church building. 00:28:22.910 --> 00:28:24.910 He prayed, he preached on this text. 00:28:25.069 --> 00:28:31.150 But he said this: he said, let the Lord fill the house and man will be forgotten. 00:28:31.549 --> 00:28:35.230 Let the Lord fill the house and man will be forgotten. 00:28:35.470 --> 00:28:44.750 We've got to ask ourselves, are we getting so good at creating environments at the expense of the true authentic encounter with the Lord? 00:28:47.230 --> 00:28:52.910 Our team have to ask us, our worship team have to ask it, our preachers have to ask it, you have to ask it. 00:28:53.069 --> 00:28:54.509 Are you looking for the feels? 00:28:54.750 --> 00:29:02.349 Are you looking for the weights, the glory of the Lord to come in and take residence and maybe interrupt your life just a little bit? 00:29:02.670 --> 00:29:11.629 Maybe interrupt the way you treat one another, maybe interrupt the way you live your sexuality, maybe interrupt the way you live your finances. 00:29:11.789 --> 00:29:14.829 Is the Lord the Lord the glory of the Lord? 00:29:15.069 --> 00:29:16.990 Does he have access in your life? 00:29:17.150 --> 00:29:19.950 Or are we looking for a drive-by blessing? 00:29:21.629 --> 00:29:26.029 The glory of the Lord in my scripture is showing me it's everything. 00:29:26.269 --> 00:29:27.789 Everything stopped. 00:29:28.109 --> 00:29:31.150 Everything stopped, and people are changed. 00:29:31.710 --> 00:29:34.670 So we've got to ask this question. 00:29:34.829 --> 00:29:42.190 How, maybe you're asking this question, how do I know the moments in the room is God and not just the music or the lights or the crowd? 00:29:42.269 --> 00:29:45.069 And I believe that's the right question. 00:29:45.869 --> 00:29:48.029 We can get good at manufacturing moments. 00:29:48.190 --> 00:29:51.069 Crowds can be a manufacturing of moments. 00:29:51.309 --> 00:29:57.629 Michael Jackson manufactured moments where those girls were crying like little babies. 00:29:57.789 --> 00:29:58.269 You know? 00:29:58.509 --> 00:29:59.389 There were moments. 00:29:59.629 --> 00:30:07.309 Taylor Swift has is really good and a billionaire because she creates moments in her concerts. 00:30:07.549 --> 00:30:09.389 But they're not transformative. 00:30:10.029 --> 00:30:12.670 They're a blessing, they're fun. 00:30:14.509 --> 00:30:16.509 Taylor Swift, but you know. 00:30:18.750 --> 00:30:22.190 Here's the test that the church has used for centuries. 00:30:23.230 --> 00:30:32.509 The mark of a real encounter with God is never the intensity in the room, it's the difference that's been made in your life on a Tuesday. 00:30:34.109 --> 00:30:37.789 Manufactured moments will fade tomorrow. 00:30:38.509 --> 00:30:48.430 But a true residence comes in, is going to start disrupting the things in your life in the best possible way. 00:30:49.629 --> 00:30:50.990 A resident moving in. 00:30:51.069 --> 00:30:53.470 It's the atmosphere in your house, in your heart. 00:30:53.710 --> 00:30:57.150 We started this song, very first song today. 00:30:57.389 --> 00:31:00.269 If you remember the words we sang, everything changed. 00:31:00.509 --> 00:31:05.549 It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. 00:31:05.710 --> 00:31:16.029 He's talking about this idea the longer I'm walking with the Lord, things in my life are beginning to shift and adjust, and attitudes and heart posture and loneliness I used to feel, and depression. 00:31:16.430 --> 00:31:24.990 And as things are beginning to change, because when the residence, the glory of the Lord comes in, it has to change. 00:31:26.269 --> 00:31:31.150 A blessing can uh improve maybe your life, but leaves. 00:31:31.309 --> 00:31:34.190 But as a residence, changes and stays. 00:31:34.349 --> 00:31:36.829 So I have to ask this question again. 00:31:38.990 --> 00:31:40.589 Did we feel something? 00:31:40.829 --> 00:31:44.509 And if we felt something, what is different about me? 00:31:44.829 --> 00:31:46.750 Because he now lives in me. 00:31:47.629 --> 00:31:49.230 What is different? 00:31:50.269 --> 00:31:55.789 You and I live in Columbus, Ohio, maybe Cincinnati, Cleveland, wherever you come from. 00:31:55.950 --> 00:31:58.589 We're very, very far from Solomon's temple. 00:31:58.829 --> 00:32:00.349 Very far from understanding that. 00:32:00.509 --> 00:32:01.470 So now what? 00:32:01.789 --> 00:32:06.109 Well, actually, Solomon's temple actually got ruined 400 years later. 00:32:06.269 --> 00:32:07.710 So it's not there anymore. 00:32:07.789 --> 00:32:09.789 So what does it mean for us today? 00:32:10.029 --> 00:32:14.990 Well, a thousand years later, John writes this about Jesus. 00:32:15.150 --> 00:32:17.230 John chapter 1, verse 14. 00:32:18.509 --> 00:32:22.029 If you're gonna write anything down, it's the next two verses I'm gonna read. 00:32:22.269 --> 00:32:24.269 1 John 1, verse 14. 00:32:24.589 --> 00:32:29.710 And the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. 00:32:30.190 --> 00:32:32.190 And we have seen his glory. 00:32:32.349 --> 00:32:33.549 Think of the word glory. 00:32:33.710 --> 00:32:34.829 We've seen his glory. 00:32:34.990 --> 00:32:39.389 Glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:32:39.629 --> 00:32:43.869 John used this word for dwelt, which literally means tabernacled. 00:32:45.470 --> 00:32:49.470 The word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. 00:32:49.869 --> 00:32:51.629 He pitched his tent. 00:32:53.869 --> 00:33:00.910 The glory that filled the house of Solomon is the glory that has come to live amongst us when Jesus was on the earth. 00:33:01.150 --> 00:33:06.349 The glory of the Lord, and they had seen the glory of the Lord because they had seen Jesus. 00:33:06.509 --> 00:33:14.349 They'd seen the weight, the the measure of God because they saw Jesus. 00:33:14.509 --> 00:33:19.869 Jesus said it out loud, he said, destroy the temple and in three days I'll raise it up. 00:33:20.029 --> 00:33:23.549 He he tells us how he was talking about his body. 00:33:23.869 --> 00:33:30.910 Jesus on earth, we're going from the temple, the glory of the Lord in the temple, to the glory of the Lord on the person of Jesus. 00:33:31.150 --> 00:33:33.950 Destroy the temple and in three days he'll come up. 00:33:34.109 --> 00:33:37.470 He was killed on the cross and three days later rose up. 00:33:37.629 --> 00:33:45.470 The glory of the Lord came out, and the glory of the Lord told us, wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, wait in the upper room. 00:33:45.629 --> 00:33:49.950 It's very, very significant for you and I in Columbus, Ohio. 00:33:50.190 --> 00:33:59.629 50 days later, after Jesus rose from the grave, they're standing in the upper room, and the Spirit of God comes down on them like tongues of fire. 00:33:59.710 --> 00:34:11.150 The Spirit of God, the glory of the Lord descended on everyday believers, 120 of them in the room, and they encountered the living God who came in them and on them. 00:34:11.309 --> 00:34:16.829 And the presence of God, glory of the Lord in Solomon's temple, glory of the Lord seen in Jesus. 00:34:16.990 --> 00:34:22.670 Now in human beings, you and I are now carriers of the glory of the Lord. 00:34:22.990 --> 00:34:27.949 God with us, tabernacle moving into our lives. 00:34:28.509 --> 00:34:30.349 Isn't this great news? 00:34:33.230 --> 00:34:34.989 Isn't it great news? 00:34:35.630 --> 00:34:39.789 The glory of the Lord that they could not do it, they could not do it. 00:34:39.949 --> 00:34:42.909 That glory is in your life. 00:34:43.150 --> 00:34:47.309 That presence of God, that very God, but we don't live like it. 00:34:47.550 --> 00:34:49.150 I don't live like it. 00:34:49.710 --> 00:34:52.349 So often I'm just thinking it's me. 00:34:52.509 --> 00:34:54.349 I've got to make this happen. 00:34:54.509 --> 00:34:55.949 I've got to move forward. 00:34:56.110 --> 00:34:57.710 I've got to find the answer. 00:34:57.869 --> 00:34:59.230 I've got to find peace. 00:34:59.389 --> 00:35:00.670 I'm dealing with anxiety. 00:35:00.750 --> 00:35:02.670 I'm sad about the situation. 00:35:02.750 --> 00:35:09.789 And I'm dealing, dealing, dealing, not recognizing the glory of the Lord, the weight of the Lord is He's in me. 00:35:10.269 --> 00:35:12.429