Introduction
A Prayer for Harvest Bible Chapel: May Our New Home Be...- A place where we Recognize God's goodness. (1 Kings 8:22-23)
- A place where we Study the Bible. (1 Kings 8:24-26)
- A place where we Say Our Prayers. (1 Kings 8:27-30)
- A place where Grace is valued. (1 Kings 8:30)
A Prayer for Harvest Bible Chapel: May Our New Home Be...
- A place where we Worship God from the heart.
- A place where we embrace God's Promises.
- A place where we Pray with Expectation.
- A place where grace is Lived and Proclaimed.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:59-01:02
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of 1 Kings.
01:02-01:04
We're going to be in chapter 8.
01:04-01:10
And if you do not have a Bible, there are some in the pockets, in the seats in front of you, and you can totally keep that.
01:10-01:12
If you don't have a Bible, that is yours.
01:13-01:16
And if we run out of them in the rows, I know there's more back in the guest reception.
01:20-01:26
While you're turning there, how many people here have been down to this restaurant just down the street called Ditkitz?
01:26-01:27
How many people have been there? Show of hands.
01:28-01:29
Okay, a lot of you have.
01:29-01:36
All right, well, I went there exactly one time, and it was, Greg Hederman, it was for your bachelor party.
01:36-01:37
And that was a good night, wasn't it?
01:38-01:50
Yeah, and I remember while we were at Ditka's, I was talking to a couple of the servers, and I said, "Has Mike Ditka ever been here?
01:50-01:56
Has he visited here?" And you could tell instantly, that was a really big deal to them.
01:57-02:08
Their eyes lit up and they said, "Well, you know, he was supposed to come here last June, but some things happened, and now they're thinking maybe in October he's gonna be here." And it was obviously a big deal.
02:09-02:11
And I just couldn't contain myself.
02:11-02:16
I kept thinking about, do you remember that old sketch on TV with those Chicago guys?
02:16-02:18
They'd be like, "Dah, bears!" Do you remember that?
02:18-02:20
How many people remember, "Dah, bears!" Okay, go ahead and say that.
02:21-02:28
"Dah, bears!" - Wasn't it just fun to say, "Dah, bears!" And they were so excited.
02:28-02:40
They were so excited at the thought that someday Mike Ditka was going to come and be in that restaurant.
02:41-02:44
But in the meantime, they had a nice place.
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They had great food.
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They got the logos, the image of Ditka on the sign, the branding, and the staff takes care of business.
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but the guy himself wasn't there.
02:58-02:59
I was thinking about that a lot this week.
03:02-03:04
Sort of like the church a lot of times, isn't it?
03:05-03:07
That we can have God's name attached to it.
03:08-03:13
We can have images and branding and logos that sort of remind us.
03:15-03:17
We can take care of business with our staff.
03:18-03:19
And we can talk a lot about them.
03:20-03:24
And we can even be excited at the thought that He might come someday.
03:27-03:31
But the question is, is God there? Is God present?
03:32-03:34
Is God actually at the church?
03:35-03:41
Do we have the anticipation and excitement of God showing up?
03:43-03:47
Not maybe once a year, but weekly.
03:48-03:52
We're not the first portable church that moved into a permanent home.
03:53-03:56
The first one was actually during Old Testament times.
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This passage we're going to look at.
03:59-04:05
You see, under Moses, Israel built a tabernacle.
04:05-04:06
And what was a tabernacle?
04:06-04:11
Well, the tabernacle was this place of worship where God's glory was manifested.
04:11-04:16
If you know a little bit about Moses' story, they were traveling through the wilderness.
04:16-04:50
tabernacle had to constantly be torn down and set back up, torn down, set back up constantly as they traveled. They were the first portable church, right? Well when you get to the time of King David, you know, Israel was in the nation, in their land rather, and David said to Nathan the prophet, "I dwell in a house of cedar." This is in 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 2. David says, "I dwell in a house "of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent." That really bothered David.
04:50-04:56
David said, "I have this really nice house, "but God sort of lives in a tent.
04:56-05:03
"Like this just doesn't seem right." And David had this idea that he wanted to build God a house, but he wasn't allowed.
05:04-05:11
And the reason was, the Lord said that David was a man who shed much blood.
05:11-05:13
That's 1 Chronicles 22.
05:14-05:21
David wasn't allowed to build the temple, but his son Solomon built the temple.
05:23-05:35
I have to wonder if he gave any press conferences saying things like, "We're going to get cheaters from Lebanon, and Lebanon's going to pay for it." That's not in the Bible.
05:36-05:38
But it's a completion of the temple.
05:38-05:44
They brought the Ark of the Covenant in, And Solomon had this prayer of dedication over the temple.
05:44-05:49
Okay, so in the Bible we have portable church went to permanent place.
05:49-05:55
And I thought, what a great way to start our first ever service here in our new place.
05:57-06:03
So I'd just like to echo some of the things that Solomon said in his prayer.
06:03-06:05
We're just gonna look at part of verses 22 through 30.
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So on your outline, a prayer for harvest Bible chapel, May our new home be, first of all, number one, a place where we recognize God's goodness.
06:16-06:18
Look at verses 22 and 23.
06:18-06:54
And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven and said, "Oh Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you We're going to call this a place where we study the Bible.
06:54-06:57
Look at verses 24 through 26.
06:59-07:05
Solomon continues, "Who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him.
07:06-07:18
You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it to this day." "Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him." Do you see a theme here?
07:18-07:32
"What you have promised, what you have promised, what you have promised." "Saying, 'You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.
07:32-07:52
Now therefore, O God of Israel," look at this next phrase, "Let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David, my father." "Let your word be confirmed." So Solomon was all about the Word of God.
07:52-07:56
So a prayer for Harvest Bible Chapel, number two, is a place where we study the Bible.
07:57-08:01
Number three, a place where we say our prayers.
08:03-08:12
"May harvest Bible chapel, may our new home be a place, may this room be a place where we say our prayers." Look at verses 27-30.
08:14-08:28
"Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built." He says, "God, You're bigger than the known universe.
08:29-08:41
How can I even think that we contain You in this house?" He says, "Yet, have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his plea.
08:42-09:08
O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that Your servant prays before You this day, that Your eyes may be opened night and day "For this house, the place which you have said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers for this place." So this should be a place where we say our prayers.
09:09-09:18
And finally, number four, "May this be a place where grace is valued." Look at verse 30.
09:18-09:36
"Listen to the plea of your servant, Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place, and listen, in heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
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A place where grace is valued, Solomon says.
09:41-09:47
God, you're going to have people praying, and when they pray, Father, forgive.
09:49-09:54
So if you look at your outline of this list, you think this is a pretty good list.
09:56-09:57
You think this is a good list?
09:59-10:00
Like, man, that sermon went fast.
10:03-10:04
Well, here's the problem.
10:05-10:06
Here's the problem.
10:06-10:07
It is a good list.
10:07-10:17
It is a good list, but that in itself is the problem because it's not God's best, honestly, it's not.
10:19-10:26
See, when you look at this list on your outline, let's be honest, these are all things that we can pull off ourselves, right?
10:27-10:29
We don't need God for these things, do we?
10:30-10:38
We can recognize God's goodness, we can study the Bible, we can say our prayers, we can value grace, we can do that ourselves.
10:38-10:40
We don't need God for those things.
10:43-10:50
Because of that, when we look at this list, church, we can't be okay to settle for this.
10:51-11:04
We can't be okay to look at this list and say, "Yeah, good enough. That's good. That's good. That works." Because that is not what God wants for His church.
11:06-11:07
Like the Ditka restaurant.
11:09-11:10
Are we okay to pay tribute?
11:12-11:14
It doesn't matter if he's here or not?
11:17-11:29
Or should we be content with nothing less than God showing up and doing the things that only God can do?
11:31-11:46
You want to be a part of a church where you can say, "Look what the people did!" Or do you want to be a part of a church where you say, "Look what God did!" That's the church that I want to be a part of.
11:47-11:48
So here's what we're going to do.
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We're going to take another run at this outline.
11:51-11:54
And I encourage you, there's pens in your seat if you need a pencil.
11:55-11:56
I usually have one or two.
11:57-11:57
You can borrow one.
11:59-12:00
But you have permission.
12:00-12:05
I want you to scratch out each point, and we're going to rewrite them more appropriately.
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You with me?
12:07-12:12
Scratch out the points in your outline, and we're going to rewrite them more appropriately.
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So here's a prayer for Harvest Bible Chapel, for real this time.
12:18-12:21
Number one, a place where we recognize God's goodness?
12:21-12:22
No.
12:22-12:22
Scratch that out.
12:23-12:27
A place where we worship God from the heart.
12:28-12:37
There's a difference between recognizing that God is good and worshiping God because He He is good. Do you see the difference?
12:38-12:43
See, when it comes to worship, there's some people that just don't get it.
12:44-12:47
And I know worship is more than just singing, but worship includes singing, right?
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Biggest book in the Bible?
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What's the biggest book in the Bible?
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Psalms, right? Israel's songbook.
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Congregational singing of adoration to the Lord.
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That's obviously very important to God.
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And some people don't get it.
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Some people just show up and they say, Some people say, "I can't wait till the music part's over," or whatever.
13:08-13:16
Other people say, "I can't wait till the sermon part's over." We pray for those people, but some people...
13:16-13:18
What's the big deal? Worship's going on.
13:18-13:19
I've seen people stand with their arms folded.
13:19-13:20
Have you ever seen this?
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People stand with their arms folded during worship time, they have their head down.
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And look, if that's you, I'm not judging you.
13:25-13:30
I'm just saying, maybe you don't get what worship is about.
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Look at verse 23.
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I'll show you from God's Word what worship is about.
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Look at verse 23 again.
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Solomon says, "O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath." In what way, Solomon? Here it is.
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"Keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their hearts." He says, "God, you promise and you give enduring love." That's awesome! And who do you give this to? Do you see the word?
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He says, "To your servants." You realize God owes you nothing.
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He owes you nothing, yet He gives you everything.
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God owes you nothing, yet He chose to enter into a covenant with you.
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not the covenant of the Old Testament, it's the covenant of the blood of Jesus Christ.
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We're going to talk about that in a few minutes.
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But God loves you, and He chose to enter into covenant with you.
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And until you really grasp how significant it is that the holy, almighty, sovereign of the universe would choose to reach out and extend his promises and his love to us, until you really grasp that you're not going to get worship, you're not going to get what all the singing and excitement is about.
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So I'm like, how can I possibly illustrate this concept?
15:10-15:17
And there's nothing that you can compare God to, so it's hard to have a perfect illustration for this, but this is the closest I was thinking of.
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Have you ever been sitting in your office at work or whatever, sitting at home on the couch or whatever, and there's a fly in the room, right?
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And where does the fly typically like to hang out?
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Right around your face, right?
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Anybody else or just me?
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OK.
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[FLY BUZZING]
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So many times I'm sitting at my desk trying to type, there's one fly in the room.
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[FLY BUZZING]
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And you have the whole room.
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And proportionately, that's pretty good for you.
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You have this whole room.
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and I'm swatting and I'm swinging Bibles at him, and I'm like, "Lord, forgive me for that." And I get annoyed to the point that it becomes an obsession.
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I kid you not.
15:57-16:08
I'll shut the door, and I'll find something legitimate, like a concordance or something, and the hardback, MacArthur Study Bible, something.
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I'm like, I'm not just going to kill this fly, I'm going to atomize it, and nothing else happens.
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Sermon prep, prayer time, shame on me.
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Nothing else happens until this thing is destroyed.
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He's annoyed me, and now I'm going to kill him.
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That sounded a lot worse coming out of my mouth than it did in my head.
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Just give me a second here to readjust.
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And to my shame, there have been times that I wasn't able to get the fly.
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I just wasn't able to.
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So I have this idea that I'm just going to shut the door I hope that he's going to suffocate in my office.
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I don't know.
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I'm going to shut him in.
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I'm going to shut him in.
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And the fly's just like, see you tomorrow.
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Right?
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So kill him.
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Shut him in the room.
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I have some options.
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But you know, I would never think-- I would never think-- it's never crossed my mind to choose to love that fly.
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It has never crossed my mind to enter into a covenant with that fly.
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It has never entered my mind to somehow fundamentally transform the very nature of this fly and be a father to that fly.
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Those thoughts have never crossed my mind.
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And do you know, to God, let's just be honest, we're less than a fly in comparison to the majesty of God.
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You are a handful of dirt and a lot of water.
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That's what you're made of.
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And compared to the sovereign of the universe, we're less than a fly, and we're more than annoying to him.
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We are rebellious.
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Yet, he loves, he loves to be the heavenly father of those who seek him.
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And when you can wrap your brain around that, and you can worship God from the heart.
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Number two, may our new home be a place where we study the Bible.
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Now you can scratch that out.
18:20-18:23
Well, Bible study is good, all for Bible study, but that's a little short.
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So we're gonna rephrase that, write this down, embrace God's promises, embrace God's promises.
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There's a huge difference between knowing about a promise and claiming it.
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There's a huge difference between having the knowledge of a promise and living out that promise.
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What's the difference?
18:49-18:49
Here's the difference.
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If I said to you, "Hey, Dairy Queen is giving out ice cream." Now you have information, you have knowledge.
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But that is completely different than driving to Dairy Queen and getting some ice cream.
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I don't know if they're giving out free ice cream.
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That was just an illustration.
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Okay?
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But do you see the difference between, I know something in my head now, there's a fact, there's a fact that this particular ice cream establishment is giving out ice cream.
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That's different than I get in my car and I drive up to get the ice cream.
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That's the difference between studying the Bible and embracing God's promises.
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See, there's a difference.
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We can look at a more serious illustration.
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There's a difference between knowing that there is a heaven and embracing the promise that Jesus Christ is preparing a place for me there.
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You see the difference?
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There's a difference between acknowledging the spiritual address somewhere, "I think there's a heaven, I believe there is," versus "Jesus died to give me access to this place." He said right now, He is preparing this place for me.
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Yeah, study the Bible.
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Yeah, know the Bible.
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But knowing the facts isn't the end game.
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The end game is when the Word of God shapes your life.
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Living like we believe every single promise in His Word.
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That's what we pray for Harvest Bible Chapel.
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That God would continue.
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again, verse 26, "Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed." And Solomon's saying, "Confirm it. We know your word is true, God, and we are going to watch you bring the fulfillment of it." That's what we're praying for this church.
20:53-21:09
Number three, we said, "May Harvest Bible Chapel be a place where we say our prayers." And you can go ahead and scratch that out, and instead let's say Harvest The first Bible chapel is a place where we pray with expectation.
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Look at verse 27 again.
21:14-21:16
He says, "But will God indeed dwell in the earth?
21:19-21:27
Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built." He's saying God cannot be boxed in, right?
21:28-21:30
He's uncontainable.
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God's not like your pet that you put on a leash, and that's where He stays.
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We have an aquarium and here's where he's contained.
21:38-21:42
Solomon's like, "I know even building this house, you're bigger.
21:43-21:48
And nothing can contain you." But then look at verse 29.
21:50-22:07
He says, "That your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there.'" God says, "I want My name attached to that place." And obviously it was more than just a sign.
22:07-22:32
It was, "This is the place where God resides." "That you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place." So God cannot be boxed in, but He wanted this place on earth so that God could, in a sense, rule in the midst of His people.
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Meaning, God wants to be known, God wants to be present with His people to meet their needs.
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You see?
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The temple can't contain God, but it became obviously more than a symbol.
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But it was a symbol that God wants to actually be in the presence of His people.
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That is awesome!
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So I want to encourage us, church, let this be a place where people cry out, where people pray in at least three ways.
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First of all, jot these down.
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I just want to encourage you in your prayer life.
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I encourage you, first of all, be specific.
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Be specific in your prayers.
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We've all been guilty of this.
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I've been guilty of this, and I'm sure you have too.
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But sometimes we say some silly things when we pray.
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And sometimes we say things like, "God, I pray for Ben." And God's like, I just imagine God's like, "Okay, "what are you praying for Ben for?
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"Like what, what?
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"Saying I pray for Ben is just an acknowledgement "of what you're currently doing, right?
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"That's not very specific.
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"You know, God, I just pray for the service today." You pray for what for the service today?
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What would you like to see happen?
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Or we say things like, you know, God bless grandma.
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God bless grandma.
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You've all done this, God bless grandma.
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And like, how?
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Does grandma have a major health issue or does grandma need a coupon for Arby's?
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Like what, bless grandma how?
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And I've been so guilty of this.
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I've been so guilty of this.
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God, we say, be with.
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God, be with my kids at school today.
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God, be with so-and-so on their mission trip.
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And it's kind of like the pray for, what do you mean by that?
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Be with them how?
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Because if they're a believer in Christ, Christ promised I'll never leave or forsake, and we know that He is going to be with them.
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So what are we praying for exactly?
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So can you see, we can be a little more specific in what we're asking God for.
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And we could spend a whole sermon series talking about that, but we are not going to do that right now.
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The Bible very clearly teaches that we should be specific.
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Also, we should be, as we said, we should be expectant.
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Expect that we should pray with expectation.
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We know that God is hearing and that God will be moving.
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That's why the Bible tells us to pray and to watch.
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Sometimes we pray and go about our business not being mindful of how God's moving.
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We kind of throw it out there like, OK, God, you know, God, I pray for Ben and bless Grandma and be with Russ.
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Amen.
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and we just go about our business.
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And when we do that, we are saying our prayers, but we're not praying.
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Bible says we should be praying specifically, and we should be watching, being watchful in prayer.
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We should be watching, see how God's moving, how he's responding to these specific prayers.
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And be dependent in your prayer.
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Be dependent in your prayer.
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Prayer isn't giving God his marching orders.
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Remember Jesus Christ's example.
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"Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." Next line, please.
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"Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done." Right?
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And we should always have that in prayer, because who knows more, God or me?
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God, right?
26:08-26:13
So when I pray, I don't have the audacity to think that I'm going to set God straight on some things.
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I want to cooperate with his will, knowing that he's the sovereign, he's the all-knowing, He's the Almighty, so if I want something that is contrary to what God wants, then I'm going to yield to His will.
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So we should be dependent upon His sovereignty.
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The Prayer for Harvest Bible Chapel, Maryknoop, New Home B, a place where we worship God from the heart, where we embrace God's promises, where we pray with expectation.
26:41-26:45
And finally, a place where grace is valued.
26:47-26:48
You can go ahead and scratch that out.
26:50-26:54
How about a place where grace is lived and proclaimed?
26:56-27:09
Look at the last word, verse 30, the word "forgive." The word "forgive." We're going to close our time today, gathering around the Lord's table.
27:11-27:28
And in verse 63 in this passage, you And I know that at the conclusion of this prayer of dedication, Solomon offered a peace offering to God, which included 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep.
27:29-27:31
We are not going to do that today.
27:33-27:33
Why?
27:35-27:37
Because the property manager is going to be mad?
27:37-27:38
No, that's not really the reason.
27:39-27:40
Why? Because it's going to be messy?
27:40-27:41
No, that's not the reason.
27:42-27:44
Because we don't have 120,000 sheep?
27:44-27:46
We'd get them if we needed to.
27:46-27:47
But none of those are the reason.
27:47-27:55
The reason that we're not going to be offering animal sacrifices today is because there are no more sacrifices to be made.
27:57-28:06
Jesus Christ laid down His life for us, once for all, so that our sins can be forgiven.
28:08-28:21
Not only must we let this truth transform us, we must get the word out about the kind of grace that comes from this incomparable God.
28:23-28:31
So today, as we have a building dedication, really it's not what you think it is.
28:33-28:34
Because this isn't God's temple.
28:36-28:37
This room is not God's temple.
28:40-28:47
Some insurance agency was using it before us, and somebody is going to be using it long after we're gone.
28:49-28:53
Marshall Middle School Auditorium was not the temple of God.
28:54-28:58
Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, what does the Bible say about God's temple?
28:59-29:01
Everybody point to where God's temple is.
29:01-29:02
It's right here, isn't it?
29:05-29:06
Your body.
29:08-29:14
If you've received Christ as your Lord and Savior, the Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
29:16-29:33
So we're not saying today, "God, we want you to come and live in this room." We're saying, "God, be powerful in me." And when God's people assemble here, We will see God do some amazing things.
29:35-29:42
We're going to celebrate that forgiveness and that transformation right now as we gather around the Lord's table.
29:44-29:48
I'd like to remind you, you don't have to be a member of our church to receive the Lord's Supper.
29:49-29:52
You have to be a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.
29:53-29:59
And if that's you, He invites you around his table.
30:01-30:08
The Bible tells us that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it, and he gave thanks.
30:09-30:14
He said, "This is my body, which is broken for you.
30:15-30:34
Eat this in remembrance of me." The Bible says that after the meal, Jesus took the cup, And he said, "This is the blood, my blood, of the new covenant which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
30:36-30:42
Drink this in remembrance of me." Thank you for diving into God's Word with us today.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 Kings 8:22-30
How do you know God is active in a church? What are the signs?
What is the significance of Solomon’s repeated use of the name "God of Israel"?
What's the difference between "saying your prayers" and "praying"? How do you know which you are doing? How can you become a better "pray-er"?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for our church to be Christ-glorifying in our new place. Like Solomon prayed for the Temple: a place where the Word of God is believed and embraced (1 Kings 8:26) and where the people of God pray passionately (1 Kings 8:28).