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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
2009 Prayer Subject(3) - Sanctuary |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Exodus 36: 2-7, 1 Chronicles 22: 1-5 |
Date |
2009-01-04 |
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Passage
[Exodus 36: 2-7], [1 Chronicles 22: 1-5]
"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. [3] They received from Moses all the contributions which the sons of Israel had brought to perform the work in the construction of the sanctuary. And they still continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning. [4] And all the skillful men who were performing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work which he was performing, [5] and they said to Moses, "The people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which the LORD commanded us to perform." [6] So Moses issued a command, and a proclamation was circulated throughout the camp, saying, "Let no man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary." Thus the people were restrained from bringing any more. [7] For the material they had was sufficient and more than enough for all the work, to perform it."
[1 Chronicles 22: 1-5]
"Then David said, "This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel." [2] So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God. [3] David prepared large quantities of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps, and more bronze than could be weighed; [4] and timbers of cedar logs beyond number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought large quantities of cedar timber to David. [5] David said, "My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it." So David made ample preparations before his death."
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the first Sunday in this New Year 2009. Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who will be with us and lead us into blessings during this year.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always dwell in light so that you will receive the guarantee and the blessings of God the Father.
Today is such a joyful and happy day. On Sunday, especially on the first Sunday of the year, we can come out to the sanctuary of God and we can worship Him. Aren't you thankful for it!
Also, most of you church members offered the first hours of the year to God the Father in the New Year's Service.
You offered to God the Father the first Friday all-night worship service of the year as well.
And seeing you believers who love the sanctuary of God and long for the bread of life, how happy and glad will it make God the Father!
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart." Therefore, to please God is the key to answers and blessings.
And there is one very certain way in which we can please God as we live on this earth as children of God.
It is the construction of the Sanctuary. Namely, we build a place for God the Father to dwell at a certain place on this earth.
The blessings given after we build the Sanctuary of God will be truly great and amazing.
And in this service, I will talk to you about the third prayer point of 2009, the 'Sanctuary'.
Through the message, I hope you will realize how blessed it is spiritually and materially to build the Sanctuary.
I also hope that you will realize the deep providence of God the Father who has given us this duty of the construction the Grand Sanctuary, and the Canaan Sanctuary before we build the Grand Sanctuary.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will have more fervor for the sanctuary of God so that you will receive great blessings through building the Sanctuary of God.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in 1 Kings 8, we read the prayer of the King Solomon that he offered to God after construction of the Temple of God.
Verses 27-30 says, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! [28] "Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; [29] that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, 'My name shall be there,' to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. [30] "Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive."
Then, Solomon kept on praying for the time when the people of God sinned.
Namely, if some disasters came upon the people because of their sins, Solomon asks God to listen to the people and forgive them when they repent and turn away from sins and seek God facing the Temple of God.
King Solomon understood very well how God-pleasing and blessed it is to build the Temple. That is why he could pray so boldly before God like that.
About this prayer of Solomon, 1 Kings 9:2-3 says, "...the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. [3] The LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."
The Temple that is accepted by God becomes the passageway for our blessings.
And for this church, too, God has blessed us through each of the sanctuaries.
Whenever we moved to a new sanctuary, God blessed us so much spiritually and materially.
Now, God has given us a great opportunity of blessing, which is to build the Canaan Sanctuary.
Then, why is it a great blessing to build the Canaan Sanctuary?
Today, in some churches, they say that some church members leave the church and they have few new-comers if the church wants to build a church building.
It's because of the burden of the construction. But how pitiful this is!
God is giving them blessings, but they are rejecting them. If we really have faith and hear that we are going to build a sanctuary of God, we will dance with joy.
Today's passage clearly tells us what kinds of heart and attitude we have to have when we build the sanctuary of God.
Exodus 36:2-7 says, "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. [3] They received from Moses all the contributions which the sons of Israel had brought to perform the work in the construction of the sanctuary. And they still continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning. [4] And all the skillful men who were performing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work which he was performing, [5] and they said to Moses, "The people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which the LORD commanded us to perform." [6] So Moses issued a command, and a proclamation was circulated throughout the camp, saying, "Let no man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary." Thus the people were restrained from bringing any more. [7] For the material they had was sufficient and more than enough for all the work, to perform it."
The sons of Israel received the command from God to build the tabernacle for God to dwell during their life in the wilderness. But they didn't have anything in affluence.
But when they heard about the building of the tabernacle, many people volunteered.
The people brought so much offering every morning voluntarily that it was literally overflowing. The offering was so much that Moses later had to command them not to bring any more offering.
They didn't bring what was left after their spending, but they gave the best of what they had.
And how moved our God the Father must have been by this attitude and act of the sons of Israel!
It was the same when King Solomon built the Temple.
Actually, King David wanted to build the Temple of God, but that task was handed over to his son Solomon.
But King David made all the preparations he could for the construction of the Temple.
Today's passage 1 Chronicles 22:1-5 says, "Then David said, "This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel." [2] So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God. [3] David prepared large quantities of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps, and more bronze than could be weighed; [4] and timbers of cedar logs beyond number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought large quantities of cedar timber to David. [5] David said, "My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it." So David made ample preparations before his death."
Brothers and sisters, we cannot build a sanctuary of God just because we have sufficient money.
God is the owner of everything in the universe, and thus it is not that He tells His children to give offerings for the construction of sanctuary because He doesn't have money.
If God wants, He can give us more than enough money, as much as He desires, for the construction of sanctuary.
Also, He can move the best architects and other experts of the world to help build His sanctuary.
But what God truly wants is not a lot of money or the sophisticated technology. God wants to receive the heart of His children who want to build the sanctuary of God.
If we have the burning passion to build the sanctuary of God, He can pour down on us overflowing monetary blessings and open the way to do it.
After He lets us sow that way, He will bless us as much as we have sown.
This principle of receiving blessing is applied in the same way for the construction of Canaan Sanctuary.
From this point on, let me explain the spiritual meaning of why it is a blessing to build the Canaan Sanctuary.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, since the founding of this church, God has given us the greatest project in human history, which is the construction of the Grand Sanctuary.
The great work that nobody has ever thought of or has yet achieved will be accomplished by Manmin.
And before the construction of this Grand Sanctuary, God has given us the task to build the Canaan Sanctuary. This is the task that we all as Manmin have to achieve.
As I have been telling you since the opening of this church, the Grand Sanctuary will not be built by our own strengths.
When all the conditions are met through the works of God, God will move the hearts of the people necessary and the construction will be achieved.
Then, can God not move the people who are needed right now and build the Grand Sanctuary?
Of course He can, but if He does, it is not in accordance with spiritual justice.
When God does something, He always does it in a proper way according to justice.
And the most important condition according to the justice in building the Grand Sanctuary is 'who builds it'.
Even though we may accumulate tremendous wealth, social power and authority and meet all the other conditions, we cannot build the Grand Sanctuary if we are not fully qualified to build the Grand Sanctuary.
King David also made all the preparations for the construction of the Temple, but he himself was not really qualified to build the Temple.
It's because He shed so much blood through so many battles and wars.
That is why, even though He loved David very much, God had David's son, Solomon, build the Temple.
The quality in the kind of person who has the responsibility for the construction of the sanctuary of God is a very important matter in view of the justice of God.
And God has given the task of building the Grand Sanctuary to us as Manmin.
God wants to accept the Grand Sanctuary which is built through the hands of Manmin members who are sanctified and have no blemish, spot or flaw.
That is why God has given us the task to build the Canaan Sanctuary before we can build the Grand Sanctuary.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God wants to give spiritual blessings to Manmin members through the construction of the Canaan Sanctuary.
God began to give His word about Canaan Sanctuary in 2001. From that time the rapid flow of spirit began as well.
Everything goes around in harmony. The essence of the flow of spirit is the sanctified children of God.
By giving us the task of constructing the Canaan Sanctuary, God has let us thoroughly realize how important it is for the pastors, Levites and church members to have holiness in building the sanctuary of God.
Of course, it would be the best if all of us can become sanctified, but God does not want that much.
God wants a certain measure from each of the pastors, Levites, and laymen members.
And to fill up that measure, under His guidance God has been refining us even up to this day.
Also, for the workers who are in leadership positions of building the Canaan Sanctuary, God has let them realize what faith really is.
God the Father told them to do a certain thing, but because of their lack of faith they couldn't obey. Through that, God let them reconsider what true and spiritual faith is and find their shortcomings.
But that does not mean that the faith of the leaders is less than the faith of others.
The leaders do have faith, but they were still lacking in meeting the level that God wanted them to reach, and God has let them realize these points.
Through this kind of training, we can reach the measure of faith where we are able to build the Grand Sanctuary. The construction of the Grand Sanctuary, which is one of our ultimate goals, is not something we can do with ordinary faith.
Especially, the leaders who are actually doing the works must have the faith to be able to sacrifice their lives just like the priests who stepped into the flooding Jordan River.
Of course, the hearts of all the church members have to be gathered together to build the Grand Sanctuary, but before that there have to be the 300 warriors of Gideon.
Then, are only the leaders who are actually doing the work the 300 warriors of Gideon? No, it's not the case.
You are all among the 300 warriors of Gideon. When the time comes for the actual construction of the Grand Sanctuary, virtually a countless number of people will come to this church.
And if God wants to select believers with faith who are like the 300 warriors of Gideon, who should be chosen?
Doesn't it have to be you who are here who will have gone through trials and trainings in this church and grown up in faith continuously?
That is why God lets each and every member check his/her attitude and measure of faith at a personal level through the construction of the Canaan Sanctuary.
You may not directly get involved in the building of the sanctuary, but God wants each of you to do your part and fill the measure of faith.
God is refining you through the process of constructing the Canaan Sanctuary so that not only pastors, Levites and leaders but also all church members will have increased faith.
That is why God has been selecting us through trials and tests since the opening of the church and He has made us like a unit of most highly trained believers.
God wants to take each of you who are well-trained this way as the cornerstone of building the Grand Sanctuary.
God wants to build the Grand Sanctuary with all those who will be coming to our church, but especially with you people who are like Gideon's 300 warriors playing the main roles.
Therefore, now is such a precious time of training.
Then, how alerted are you, and how much are you checking and changing yourself?
In how much detail are you checking and sanctifying yourself?
Above all else, I urge you to check how united you are among one another.
This is a crucial point especially for the leaders who are actually doing the work. God wants all the workers to be united as one in this construction of Canaan Sanctuary.
So great will be the strength when the workers are united as one in heart with that faith.
And peace must be maintained all the time. When we want to understand each other and encourage each other and have one heart, we can bring down great works from above.
It is very important for the laymen members to be united as one, too.
When the sons of Israel conquered the city of Jericho, it's not only the leaders who were in the marching array to march around the city.
Of course, in the front were the soldiers who were armed, then the seven priests with the trumpets of ram's horns, and the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and they were followed by the people.
And Joshua said the following to the people.
Joshua 6:10 says, "But Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you, 'Shout!' Then you shall shout!"
Did the people say such things as: "How long are we going to have to march around?" "How many times do we have to march around the city today?" "Why do we have to wake up so early in the morning?"
They said nothing, but when Joshua commanded them to shout, they shouted, and when they shouted the city of Jericho collapsed.
This is what it is like to be united as one.
It is to obey the commands of the leader in each one's position and to march forward towards the common goal together in any kind of situation or circumstances.
This is what we have to do. There shouldn't be any complaints. There should be only beautiful lips that give out thanks, say 'Amen', pray, and give glory to God.
But this kind of beautiful words can come out only from the heart that has stored up good, through circumcision of the heart.
After all, when we accomplish the sanctuary of the heart beautifully, we as children of God can be united as one and build the sanctuary of God too.
Likewise, the construction of the sanctuary is achieved when each of your souls prospers.
And the true construction of the sanctuary is when we build the physical sanctuary through the spiritual blessings given.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will realize the true meaning contained in the building the sanctuary so that the construction of Canaan Sanctuary will be the passageway of blessing for your soul to prosper.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when Adam was in the Garden of Eden he enjoyed all the affluence without having to sow or work at all.
Therefore, he couldn't give true thanks or feel joy for what he was enjoying.
And when that Adam came down to this earth and had the first harvest, what would have he felt?
When he saw what he gained through his toil and gave sacrifices to God with that, how thankful and joyful he must have been from the depth of his heart!
It's much the same with us in the construction of sanctuary.
If God begins to work, He can build Canaan Sanctuary or the Grand Sanctuary in but a moment.
Even though we don't do anything, God is more than able to do it if He wants. But it's not really right according to the spiritual justice.
And suppose God just works and builds the sanctuary, even though it is not right according to justice. Then, how would you feel when you worship God in that sanctuary?
Would you have the heartfelt and true thanks, joy, and emotions? We may have it for a moment in the beginning, but that is not true and it cannot last forever.
But when we actually build the Canaan Sanctuary and the Grand Sanctuary with our hands and offer them to God, the joy, thanks, and emotions of it will last forever both on earth and in the heavenly kingdom.
It's because we will have our faith, endurance, love, sweat, effort, tears, and prayers contained in the sanctuaries.
Also, through such sanctuaries, we will have had the chances for our soul to prosper and to come forth as the best children of God.
Brothers and sisters, the Canaan Sanctuary is another step towards the Grand Sanctuary.
By building the Canaan Sanctuary, our pastors, Levites, leaders, and all church members will receive spiritual and material blessings and come forth as prepared vessels to construct the Grand Sanctuary.
The Canaan Sanctuary and the Grand Sanctuary are not separate from each other. The beginning of the Canaan Sanctuary is the beginning of the Grand Sanctuary.
We should no more think, "I will do better when we actually build the Grand Sanctuary."
We must have the earnest desire and fervor that now is the time of beginning of the Grand Sanctuary.
When we build a sanctuary, obviously toil and dedication are required.
We have to give the offerings for it and drive away the works of the enemy devil, Satan; there are many kinds of trials.
And by passing such processes through the construction of Canaan Sanctuary, God can move the whole world to build the Grand Sanctuary, without violating the justice. Therefore, now is a very important time.
Now is the time when we have to fulfill the justice that God requires of us.
God has been emphasizing that we accomplish holiness, and He has been guiding and refining our leaders to come forth as pure gold so that we can meet the conditions of His justice.
When we do accomplish the hearts that are like pure gold through this, the construction of the Canaan Sanctuary and the Grand Sanctuary will be accomplished very quickly.
Therefore, I would like you to more fervently pray for the 'sanctuary' in this year.
It goes without saying that you have to accomplish sanctuary of your heart.
In this year of blessing, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will completely fulfill all the great plans of God the Father that He will accomplish through Manmin, a church set high above all nations on earth.
[Amen] |
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