Wednesday Night Service 7PM - 2 Chronicles 5-7, Dedicating the Temple, Pastor Ryan Nichols
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Transcript
Organized into readable paragraphs from the preserved Whisper transcript. Non-speech markers are removed.
Hello everyone. Let's start with a word of prayer. Dear God, thank you so much for allowing us all to gather together tonight safely through this weather and getting the chance to refocus our week back on where it needs to be, back on you. I pray that you'll help us all to just let go of whatever has happened this week and to be able to fully take in the lessons that Pastor Ryan has prepared for us and to be, have our hearts open and ready to listen to whatever you have to teach us through him. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, if you guys want to stand with me for the
first song, the opportunity to worship you and to turn our whole hearts over to you and to remember how incredible you are in all the goodness that you do for us every single day, even in the things that we don't appreciate and the things that get overlooked, but the way that you care for us and the way that you care for us. Every single day is so good and nothing that we deserve. I pray that we will have a heart of worship towards you, even if we're not singing, but just throughout our days that we remember how amazing and how wonderful you are and we tell you that. Yeah, and I just pray for Pastor Ryan as he comes up, that you give him the words that you want him to speak and that you want us to hear and learn from. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Good evening. If you would open up your Bibles to the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 5. 2 Chronicles chapter 5, we're going to be starting in verse 11. Now I want you to imagine, if you will, that we've been working on a building project for seven years. We haven't been, but imagine, if you will, that that was the case. Seven years. It's a long time to be working on a building
project. And at the end of seven years, finally the time has come to be able to dedicate this building. You haven't seen the inside of it. You can kind of see the outside. It's a magnificent structure, beautiful building. And it's finally come, the day has come that everybody gets to come and see exactly what this building is supposed to be. It gets to get dedicated to the Lord and
there's a lot of excitement and buildup. Well, that's what the end of chapter 5 of 2 Chronicles is all about. They have been constructing the temple and we talked about that last week. We looked at all of the different implements in the temple, the structure of it, the furniture in it, all the different furnishings that were a part of it, the altar, the sea that was created. They're all the things about the temple that were just, they were just beautiful. And now
it's time to dedicate the temple. And the only thing from the old tabernacle that's being brought into this temple is the Ark of the Covenant. And that's where we start off in verse 11 of chapter 5 is the Ark of the Covenant being brought into the temple. This is what it says in verse 11. It says, For all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard to
divisions. And all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jedithun, and their sons and kinsmen clothed in fine linen with cymbals, harps, and lyres standing east of the altar and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets in unison. When the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord. When they lifted up their hands and their voices and accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music. And when they
praised the Lord saying, he indeed is good for his loving kindness is everlasting. Then the house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. So the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. So they bring this Ark of the Covenant in and they bring it in on the poles exactly like they're supposed to. They follow,
follow all of the instructions to the T the way that it's supposed to be done. And remember that Ark of the Covenant was the representation, the visible representation of the presence of God among the people. It housed within it the law and on top of it was the mercy seat. It is the perfect picture of Jesus because it was made of wood, but it was covered in gold. The wood speaking
of his humanity, the gold speaking of his divinity. And this presence of God was brought into the tabernacle and you can kind of, or into the temple. And you can imagine them kind of backing themselves out, all of the priests, because they didn't pay attention to divisions. Everybody came on this day and all of them came out of the temple. And as they came out of the temple, I want you to notice
what they do. There is an incredible amount of musical instruments. How we ever don't think musical instruments should be a part of worship. I'm sorry, this is neither here nor there, but I feel like it needs to be said. How anyone ever came up with the fact that musical instruments shouldn't be used in worship, clearly never read the Old Testament because that is an incredible
amount of musical instruments. That'd be, 120 dudes on the bugle, right? 120 guys blowing horns. That's a bunch of music being played there. And all of these guys with all of the symbols and the instruments and the blowing of the horns, and they're all in unison praising God. And the one line that they sing is, he indeed is good for his loving kindness is everlasting. I don't know if you can imagine
what that would be like, but imagine an entire stadium full of people singing, all of God's praises at one time, sounding like one voice being lifted up, accompanied by musical instruments. And in that moment, there was no need for a smoke machine because the very presence of God fills the temple so much so the cloud that fills the temple is so great that nobody can even do their job. They're actually forced out of the temple because the presence of God has filled the temple. I feel like I would be remiss if I did not say this, that there is a something powerful about God's people praising God. There is something powerful that happens when
we unite our voices as one and we truly sing the praises of the Lord. I was just reading in Psalm 33 today. And in Psalm 33, he talks about singing those praises. And I sent a message to someone that I'm sending some psalms to that's going through some stuff right now. And I said, you need to look at this. You need to pay attention to how much the psalmist commands that we sing
unto the Lord. And I said, you need to look at this. You need to pay attention to how much the psalmist commands that we sing unto the Lord. Because there is something about private worship, but there's something completely different about community worship. There is something about God's people singing with one voice together that doesn't usher in the presence of God because we are always in the presence of God,
but it creates an awareness of the presence of God as we praise him. Because there is something about the spirit of God filling the praises of his people that makes the presence of God so palpable that you can feel it. That's why worship is important. That's why praise is important. And all they do is just simply sing one simple line to the Lord. There's a lot of debate and conjecture about worship songs right now, is there not? Oh,
well, you know, some worship songs today, they're not wordy enough, really, because that was one line. That's it. That's all they sang. Have you ever read the book of Revelation? They literally sing over and over and over and over again, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and who is and who is to come. They don't cease singing that, right? Like, give
Brandon Lake a little bit of a break, okay? And so they sing this one line to the Lord and it's amazing because God's presence fills the temple. And now as God's presence has, the glory of the Lord has filled the house of God. We come down to chapter six and Solomon makes his dedication of the temple. There's two things that we're going to see in chapter six. We're going to see his
dedication and then we're going to see his prayer. The first 11 verses are the dedication. This is what it says. And then Solomon said, the Lord has said that he would dwell in a thick cloud and I have built you a lofty house and a place for your dwelling forever. The king faced about and he blessed all the assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel was standing. And he said,
blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with his hands. The Lord said to my father David, because it was in your heart to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, because it was in your heart to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. And he said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, because it was in your heart to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
You did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he shall build the house for my name. Now the Lord has fulfilled the word which he has spoken. For I have risen in the place of my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And there I have set the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord.
Lord, which he made with the sons of Israel. I love his opening line because he says, the Lord said he would dwell in a thick cloud. And can you imagine how amazing that statement would have been because what just filled the entire house? The entire temple was just filled with the cloud of God that was so thick that they couldn't be in the temple. They couldn't do their regular service
because the presence of God in that cloud was so thick. It was so palpable that they had to actually exit the temple because God's presence was there. And as he says, your word says that you dwell in a thick cloud and I have built you a lofty house. And he'll remind himself and the people of Israel that God can't be housed in a temple because the heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool, but this is still a place to meet with God. And then he again recites the
history. He said, you know, up until this time, since the nation has left Egypt, God did not choose a place for his name to reside. He didn't choose a man to be the leader, but now God has chosen Jerusalem. And again, remember that he has chosen a place to build the temple that would be, that was the place where David had to sacrifice for the greatest mistake he made of numbering the people. And God turned what was David's greatest
fault into now God's greatest glory, because that's what God is in the business of doing. He said, And again, we may be reminded that on the outside, David didn't look like the right guy. David didn't look like the right guy when God chose him in the beginning because he was the youngest and he was the smallest and he was the one that was out taking care of the sheep. He was the least kingly looking of all of his brothers. It looked like God didn't choose the right guy
when he was the youngest and he was the smallest and he was the one that was out taking care of the sheep. He was running for his life from Saul. It didn't look like he was the right guy when he made a couple of very big errors in judgment, a couple of very big errors in his life. And yet, because his heart was always to return to his father, he was the one that God chose, because it was a choice that God made, not because of who David is, but because of who God is, because God takes flawed people and he does beautiful things with them.
He said, he has chosen Jerusalem and he has chosen David. And it was in my father's heart to build a house. Of course, he was told he can't. And so now here I am doing what God had promised. And if you're an underliner, I think verse 10 is a beautiful one to underline. It says, now the Lord has fulfilled his word, which he spoke. For I have risen in the place of my father,
David, and sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised and have built the, house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. In the margin of my Bible, I just simply wrote promises kept. Promises kept. Because that's what verse 10 represents for us is another promise that God kept. God kept his word that he spoke. And I think that that's an important thing for us to
hold on to and an important thing for us to remember, because there are times in life, where we question if God is going to do what he said he was going to do. There are times in our lives when we question the faithfulness of God, because as we look at a situation, as we look at a moment, as we look at a thing that we're dealing with, we can go, Lord, I don't know if you're going to keep your promise on this one. I don't know if I can really trust you on this one, because I don't see how you're going to do it. I don't see how you're going to make this happen. And yet we can always rest in the fact that God has never not kept one of his
promises. God is the promise-keeping God, and he has never let anyone down. As a matter of fact, the psalmist David would write, I was young, and now I'm old, and I've never seen a child of God begging for bread. Because God is the God who keeps his promises. He is the God who always cares for us. And we have to remember, in the hardest of times, we have to remember that what we proclaimed in
the light, we have to hold on to in the dark. What we proclaimed as God's promise, we have to hold on to in the dark. When everything was going the way we wanted it to go, we have to hold on to when it looks like nothing is going the way we want it to go. And remind ourselves that God is the God who keeps his promises. Interestingly enough, I want to point out to you and remind you of who the writer
to the Chronicles is writing to at this point in time. He is writing to exiles who are returning to Jerusalem. He is writing to those who are the remnant that God saved that is returning to Jerusalem, which is exactly what God promised he would do. That's why I think the writer of the Chronicles here is so clear to point out that God kept his word which he spoke. Can you imagine
being the remnant that has returned to the land and you read this and you go, not only did God keep his word there, but God's kept his word here. See, that's why we need to remind ourselves of what God has done in the past so that we can hold on to what he's done in the present. And that's what this writer to the Chronicles reminds them of. And so Solomon says, there I have set the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with the sons of Israel. And now as we come to verse 12, we come to the longest
recorded prayer in the Bible. And can I be honest, if Solomon had remained in a heart posture like we see him here, we might have never had a divided kingdom. Because the heart posture that he has here is the place that we should live in our lives. There's two things that I want to point out to you. I want to point out not only his, well, actually three things. I want to point out his posture in prayer. I want to point out his
praise in the prayer. And I want to point out his supplication in the prayer. The first thing I want to point out is the posture. Notice what it says in verse 12.
Now, I want you, if you can, I know not everybody's a visual learner, but if you can picture in your mind that picture that we had of the temple up there last week, where you had the building of the temple, and then you had the courtyard of the temple out in front. And as you looked at that, that courtyard, you had the altar over here, you had the sea over here, and then you had kind of an open area in between the altar and the actual opening of the temple, where those pillars were. Oh, my goodness, look at that. So there you have it right here. He would have set this platform up
about right here. And he built this platform for one specific purpose, because he had all of the nation there. He had all of the priests there. He's surrounded by an incredible number of people. And he's about to pray and dedicate, this temple. So he built a platform so that he could be able to speak in such a way that everybody could hear. And so he begins with this heart posture. I want you to know, so he stands
on this bronze platform in that place, in the middle of the courtyard. And I want you to notice three things, excuse me, two things that he does. The first thing it does, it says that he does is he kneels on his knees. So imagine, if you will, he gets on this platform, and he just gets down like this. And then as he kneels down, he puts his hands up to the sky. And that's how he begins
his prayer. Now, why is that important? Because I believe that your physical posture in prayer is almost as important as your spiritual posture in prayer. Now, I'm not saying that you have to always be in a kneeling down position to pray. I drove to Wichita today, and I did not kneel, raise my hands, or close my eyes, because I held onto the wheel, I kept my eyes open,
and I sat in my seat like I was supposed to. The last time I did that, I wrecked the car. I'm just kidding. So you can't always do that. I prayed the whole time that I was there. I was in the car, I was on my way up there, quite frankly, because the radio in my car wasn't working. And I was like, hey, it feels like the right time to pray. And I prayed the whole way up there, and my physical
posture was sitting in the seat. It's not that you can't pray that way. I'm saying there's something powerful about kneeling down and praying on your knees with your hands to the sky. Because there is something about putting ourselves physically in the position that our heart is supposed to be in, and that's knelt before the Lord. You see, Solomon, the king,
put himself in the most humble position possible. He put himself in the most surrendered position that he could possibly be, on his knees, with his hands raised. Because he knew that humility before the Lord is the most important thing that you can have if you're going to approach him in prayer. And I just wonder, in your own personal prayer closet, if every now and then, kneeling before the Lord in prayer, is what God is calling you to do. Not because you have to do that to hear God,
but because sometimes doing that gives you the right focus of humility before the Lord. And so he kneels down in prayer before the Lord, and he lifts his hands to the sky, and he begins to praise God. Notice what it says in verse 14. He said, O Lord God of Israel, there's no God like you in heaven or on earth, who keeps covenant and shows loving kindness to your servants, who walk before you with all their heart, who has kept with your servant David, my father, that which you have promised. Indeed, you have spoken with your mouth, and you have fulfilled
it with your hand, as it is this day. Now, therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with your servant David, my father, that which you have promised him, saying, You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel. If only your sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you have walked before me. Now, therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken.
But will God indeed dwell with mankind on earth? Behold, the heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built. Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant, and listen to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you, that your eye may be opened to the Lord. And so he says, O Lord God of Israel, keep with your servant, and listen to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you, that your eye may be opened to the Lord.
open toward this house night and day, and toward the place which you have said that you would put your name there to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place. Listen to the supplications of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from your dwelling place from heaven. Hear and forgive. Do you notice how he started off praising
God and even mixes some praise in with the beginning of his supplication, even in the beginning of what he begins to ask the Lord? Listen, praise is one of the most important things we can do in our time of prayer, because when we start off with praise, it puts everything else back into perspective. I just can't say this enough, because oftentimes when our hearts come before the Lord, they are heavy with the things that we are dealing with in the moment. When we really have that posture of prayer, our hearts are heavy with the things that we see in front of us.
I don't know about you, but this month has caused my heart to be heavy. Not only with the things that I see in the world, but things that I see in the community. I've just had a heavy heart, and it is so easy to go to the Lord and just feel almost discouraged, and like God's not going to answer your prayer, because you start off with these heavy requests before the Lord, which is why one of the most important things that you can do is to start off by praising God, because if you start off being reminded that he is the God who keeps his promises, that he is the covenant God, that he is the God who walks among his people, that he is the God who is greater than all of the other gods who the earth
can't contain, let alone the house that was built for him, then all of a sudden your problems become a little bit smaller, because your God just became a little bit bigger. And that praise is so important. I learned a very important thing. I think I've shared this with you before. When I get ready to journal my Bible stuff in the morning, and I've started doing this,
not always because I'm lazy sometimes, but I've started doing this even before I start reading. I start off with two things. What am I thankful for, and what am I struggling with? I just write those two things down, and my journal prompts are, today I am thankful for, today I am struggling with. And it's interesting that when I start off with the today I'm thankful for, then the today I'm struggling with is a little bit harder
to come up with, because when you start to focus on what you're thankful for, when you start to focus on what you're praising God for, it becomes a little bit more difficult to come up with what you're struggling. But it's kind of fascinating that if I will do that exercise, if I will be disciplined to do that exercise, whatever I read in God's Word usually addresses those two things that I've written out. It's kind of an interesting exercise for you to take part in. That's what he does here.
He says, Lord, you are more amazing than I can ever imagine, and the heavens can't contain you, the earth can't hold you, but here's this house. And all I want you to do right now, Lord, is I just want you to listen. I want you to listen to what I have to say. I want you to hear what your children have to say. I want you just to pay attention to my prayers. Again, as I'm going
through the psalms, I'm noticing something. I'm noticing how often the psalmist David, and many of the other writers of the psalms as well, continually asked God to hear their prayers. And I've sort of asked myself a question, why are they always asking God to hear? And I think the reason why I'm asking God to hear is because I'm asking God to hear. The reason why is because we struggle with believing that God wants to listen to our prayers.
And so I think it's really important to go to God and be honest and say, Lord, I don't even know if you care about what I have to say right now, but Lord, would you please listen to what I have to say? Lord, hear me out. It just seems to be an important thing because the psalmist is always doing that. And that's what Solomon says here. He says, Lord, would you listen to my prayer? And I'm
going to point out God's response in chapter seven in just a little bit. Now, for the rest of this prayer, I'm going to give you a little bit of time. I'm going to give you a little bit of time to give it a theme. The rest of this prayer is hear and forgive and restore. It's actually given to us right here in verse 21. Let's read it again. It says, listen to the supplication of your servant
and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from your dwelling place from heaven. Hear and forgive. I sort of threw the restore part. We'll get there in just a minute. And that's going to be the theme for everything else that he says. There's actually going to be one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven different times. Where he asks this exact same thing. So let's look at these. Verses 22 and 23.
He says, In other words, God, hear and act justly. In verse 24, he says, If your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they've sinned against you, and they return to you, and they confess your name, and they pray, and they make supplication before you in this house, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people and bring them back to the land which you have given to them and to their fathers. Lord, when we are defeated because of sin, when we find ourselves defeated by our enemies, and it's all because of the sin in our lives, but when we come to you and confess our sins, Lord, would you hear us, and would you forgive us, and would you restore us? Can we all admit that when we fall into sin, we are defeated
by the enemy? It may not necessarily be an enemy that dwells on this earth, but we are defeated by the enemy. And he allows us to live in that defeat until we finally come to a place of saying, Lord, I was wrong. Lord, I was living in sin. And because I was living in sin, I'm living in defeat and discouragement. And Lord, would you please forgive me? This is what
I've done wrong. This is where I need you to forgive me. And God hears, God forgives, and God restores. The next thing he says in verse 26 is this. When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them, then hear. And forgive the sin of your servant, and your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the good way
in which they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. Lord, when there's drought, and you've brought drought on the land because of sin in the land, and we realize that the reason why you brought drought on the land is because of sin in the land, we begin to confess our sins to you. Then Lord, please hear and forgive. He paints another scenario.
In verse 28, he says, If there is famine in the land, in other words, no food, if there's pestilence or disease, if there's blight or mildew, if there's locusts or grasshopper, destruction of crops, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer or supplication made by any man, or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, then hear from heaven your dwelling place. And forgive, render to each according to his ways, whose heart you know, for you alone know the hearts of men, that they may fear you to walk in your way, as long as they live in the land, which you
have given to our fathers. He says, when everything goes wrong, and each individual comes to a place of realizing, this is what I've done wrong to cause the problem. And Lord, they begin to realize the sin that's in their heart. Because only you really know the heart. Then hear from heaven, and forgive, and restore, and teach. He paints another scenario in verse 32. He says, also concerning the foreigner who is not
from your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your great name's sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm, when they come and they pray towards this house, then hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, and do according to all which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by your name. I love this. He says, Lord, even if it's not people from our land, even if it's foreigners that want to come here and worship you, that have come to a place of realizing you are the one true
God, you are the one who brings blessing, you are the one that we need to pursue, then Lord, hear them. Because listen, God is not a God of just one people. God is not a God of one race, one ethnic group. God is the God of all. He says, Lord, anyone who comes to you, may you hear from heaven. And then he goes on to paint another scenario, verse 34. And when your people go out to battle
against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you towards this city, which you have chosen, the house which I have built from your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. In other words, when they need victory, Lord, give them victory as they pray. But, verse 36, when they sin against you, and I love that parenthetical statement, for there's no man who does not sin, and you are angry with them, and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them captive to a land far off or near. If they take thought in the land where they are taken captive, and they...
If they repent, and they make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, and we have acted wickedly. If they return to you with all of their heart, and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and they pray toward their land, which you have given to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name, then hear from heaven your dwelling place. Their prayer. And their supplications.
And maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. This one feels mildly prophetic in nature. Can we all agree with that? This kind of feels like maybe he knew the blessings and the cursings of the book of Deuteronomy, that if they lived according to God's law, there would be blessings, but if they didn't, there would be cursings. And the ultimate of those cursings is that they would be driven
from the land, that they would be defeated by their enemies, and they would no longer be able to live in this... Good land, which God had given them. He says, Lord, when that happens, and did you notice he didn't say if that happens, but when that happens? Because after all, parenthetically, there is no man who does not sin. And I think one of the greatest things that we can point out from this entire section
is that there should be a humbling effect on all of our hearts, and cause all of us to say, but by the grace of God, go I. Because there is no man who doesn't sin. And we should constantly live on our knees before the Lord, not only repenting of the sins that God continually shows us in our lives, and asking for that forgiveness, but also asking God for that teaching that we need to walk away from those sins. He says, Lord, when that happens, and we're driven to that land, whether it's far off or near, whoever that enemy is that takes us captive, and we turn to you with all of our heart, then would you hear from heaven? Would you bring
us back? And would you restore us? Again, I want to point out to you, who is he writing this to? He's writing this to the captives who are returning to the land. Why? Because there was a man living in Babylon who knew by the writings of Jeremiah that the time of the end of the captivity was near. And he turned his heart towards God, and he turned his body towards Jerusalem, and he began to confess his sins and the sins
of his people to the Lord. That man's name was Daniel. I will always concede, I will always declare the fact that the nation of Israel was returning not only because of God's faithfulness, but because of Daniel's prayer. Were there more people praying? Probably. But was there one man praying? Definitely. And I do not think that you can undersell the importance of one old man
living in Babylon who knew it was time for the children of Israel to return home. So he started praying like God taught him to. He started praying like he knew how to, praying that God would restore the heart of the nation, that God would restore the land to the people. Can you imagine the this being written, and you're reading this as you return to the land, and you're like, I'm watching this happen now. I am watching God keep his promise now. The prayer of Solomon
is being fulfilled in front of our eyes, because God has heard our prayers. Notice what it says in verse 40. Now, oh my God, I pray, let your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer offered in this place. Now, therefore, arise, oh Lord God, to your resting place. You in the ark of your might, let your priests, oh Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your godly ones rejoice in what is good. Oh Lord God,
don't turn your face away from your anointed. Remember your loving kindness to your servant, David. What a powerful moment. To hear that prayer recited by a man who is on his knees before the Lord, with his arms outstretched to heaven, declaring all of these things, and then I want you to notice what happens when God responds. Now, when Solomon, chapter 7, verse 1, had finished praying, fire came down from
heaven, and consumed the burnt offering, and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house, and the priest could pray. Now, when Solomon, chapter 7, verse 1, had finished praying, enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down, and the glory upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped, and gave praise to the Lord God, saying, truly he is good. Truly his loving kindness is everlasting. I love this. After this incredibly intense prayer,
I guarantee you could hear a pin drop in that place. As Solomon is declaring this prayer, before the Lord, and in that moment, he says, amen, and God says, so be it, because God sends fire down from heaven. I just want one time to see this happen, to see just a fireball come from heaven and consume a sacrifice. It would be amazing. It is what it is. Do you notice how
often this happens? When God's people seek God through prayer with the right heart posture, God answers in powerful ways. I started thinking about this on whatever day I first started studying this. It was either Monday or Tuesday. I don't even know what day it is now, because it snowed, and snow is dumb, and I hate snow. I've been in a bad mood ever since. But I started
thinking about all the times when God sent fire down, or somehow responded in some magnificent sort of way to the prayers of God's people, right? Like I'm thinking of Elijah, when Elijah was on the mountain with his people, and he was praying, and he was praying, and he was praying, and he was praying. And he legit just covered the whole altar in water and created like a little creek full of water. And God sent down fire that didn't just consume the sacrifice. It didn't just consume
the water. It didn't just consume the wood. It consumed the stones. I've never seen fire burn rocks. That's how God responded. I'm reminded of Abraham building altars before the Lord, and God sending his fire to consume. I'm reminded of when the tabernacle was dedicated, and God sent his fire, and it consumed the sacrifice. But it wasn't just an Old Testament thing. I'm thinking of the New Testament in the book of Acts, when the disciples
had just been told that they could no longer declare the word of God, that they would be killed if they kept giving out God's word. And they said, listen, whether it's right for us to obey God or to obey you, that's for us to decide, or that's for you to decide. As for us, we are going to listen to the Lord. And so they go to the upper room after they got there, and they're their rear ends kicked for a little while.
They go to the upper room and they all start praying and they don't pray that God would stop the persecution. They don't pray that God would make life easier on them. They don't pray that God would give them more rights. They didn't pray that God would give them better salaries. They didn't pray for any of those kinds of things. They prayed for boldness. And what happened?
God shook the upper room. I'm reminded of Paul and Silas as they were in a Philippian jail after they just got the tar kicked out of them. Have you ever noticed how often the disciples either are in a shipwreck or they get beat up, right? Whatever. Anyway, so they're in there after they just got the tar kicked out of them and they're praising God and they're praying to the Lord in the middle of the night
and God shook the whole prison. Knocked the stocks off of them. Knocked the prison doors open. Because God responds. God loves to respond in powerful ways but sometimes, He's like, I'm just waiting to do something awesome but I can't get anybody to pray. I can't get anybody to really get in the right heart posture and just get after it and just really seek the Lord in prayer.
This is what happens here. God sends fire and He consumes the sacrifice and His glory fills the temple and I want you to notice that they ended the way that they started. They ended by saying, truly He is good and truly He is loving. Kindness is everlasting. It goes on from there in verse four. They just had a great old party after this. It says, then the king and all the people
offered sacrifice before the Lord. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the people dedicated the house of God and the priests stood at their posts and the Levites with the instruments of music to the Lord which King David had made for giving praise to the Lord for His loving kindness is everlasting. Whenever he gave praise by their means while the priests on the other side blew trumpets and all Israel was standing then Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to contain the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.
So Solomon observed the feast at the time for seven days and all Israel with him, a very great assembly who came from the entrance to the house of God. They all came from the entrance. They all came from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly for the dedication of the altar. They observed seven days in the feast, seven days.
Then on the 23rd day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents rejoicing and happy of heart because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and Solomon to his people. So all together about 15 days. They have a week long of a dedication of the temple, a week long feast of the dedication of the temple. And then they did another week of what was probably the feast of tabernacles.
That's what most commentators believe was the feast that it talks about that they kept. So, and then one day in between you got 15 days of just hanging out in Jerusalem, just praising the Lord together, right? What a conference. That would have been the most amazing conference to attend to ever. Where you get to see fire blow things up and everything else. Well now, it says in verse 11, Solomon finished
the house of the Lord. The king's palace and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the Lord and the palace. And then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said, I have heard your prayer and I have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or if I command the locusts to devour the land or if I send pestilence among my people, my people who are called by my name humble themselves and they pray and they seek my face and turn from their wicked ways that I will hear from heaven.
I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart, will be there perpetually. Starts off by saying, I've heard your prayer and I've chosen this place. Can we all just for a moment appreciate the fact
that God right there says he hears our prayers? Does it ever feel like they hit the ceiling? Does it ever feel like they stop about midair? You're like, I don't know if anybody ever heard that. I don't know if God even knew that that one happened, right? He left me undelivered. And I'm just not sure that God's really taking in everything that I've said. You can never know.
You can never know. You can never know. You can never know. You can never know and understand that God has not left you undelivered. He's heard you. He may have left you unread, but he has heard what you've said. He always hears our prayers. He always answers our prayers. And that's what we see right here. Because God said, I've heard your prayer and this place is my place
and my name will dwell here and my heart will be here. And you just need to know that just like you said, if there's pestilence or locusts or enemies or any of those things that happen, and then we come across one of, I think, the greatest verses in all of the Bible. One of the greatest promises in all of the Bible right here in verse 14. He says, when all of those things happen and my people who are called by my name, they humble themselves and they pray and they seek my face and they turn from their wicked ways that I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Now there's a promise there. But the promise has a requirement. The requirement is broken hearts. The requirement is tear-stained eyes. The requirement is repentance. He says, when these things happen, when your cities erupt with protests because they don't like law enforcement, when your cities erupt with protests because they don't like the way that the government is handling things,
when people are being killed and everybody's being blamed for it, nobody wants to get to the truth, when false stories get spread, when there is unrest, even in the church, because nobody can decide which political aisle that they should sit on, when there is unrest in the community and the entire nation looks like it's on fire and it's falling apart, when that happens, then if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and will repent, and will turn to me and pray, then I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land. Now listen, we have to understand something right now. There are two sides that are wrong on what's going on in our nation right now. One has an R next to their name.
The other one has a D next to their name. Because somewhere in the middle is probably the truth, but how convenient of a nation that we live in right now that we no longer need facts to judge the guilty and the innocent parties. We only need one side of the story and a political answer. And then we can decide who the right people are and who the wrong people are and we can be our own God and we can decide who's right and we can decide who's wrong.
Because after all, I saw a picture on social media that may or may not have been doctored by the people that I may or may not agree with. And that's the place that we live in right now. And I don't care which side of the aisle you sit on. Quite frankly, I think God's pretty fed up with both. Because we've missed the point. And the point that we've missed is that God's pretty fed up with both.
And the point that we've missed is that lives matter. All of them matter. I don't care what color they bear. I don't care what nationality they bear. But not only do lives matter, laws need to be enforced. And they both need to be handled in godly ways. But if we want to see things change in our nation, if we want to see things really take place, we have to stop making posts
on social media about who we believe is right. We have to stop protesting on who we think is wrong. And we need to start doing what it says here. Do you notice that nowhere in here does it say, if I shut up the heavens so that there's no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among the people, if you will rally all of the people who agree with you, and you will go into the streets and protest, then I will hear from heaven and heal your land.
That is not what it says. What does it say? It says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and will pray and seek the Lord, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. And it has to start somewhere. It started in the nation of Israel in Babylon with a guy named Daniel. An old guy in a high up position
who knew the word, understood the times, and set his heart to seek the Lord. Obeyed every law he possibly could, as long as it didn't violate God's law. Supported the government, even though it opposed, for the most part, everything that Israel stood for, and sought the Lord through prayer. And all I'm saying is, maybe we need a bunch of Daniels right now. Maybe we need a bunch of people
who will decide that they don't care who's right and who's wrong. Maybe what we need is a bunch of people who will start confessing their sins and the sin of their nation and start really seeking the Lord. Maybe that's where we should start. And maybe it shouldn't start with everybody else that we think it should start with. Maybe it should start with us. Maybe it should start with a little church
in our city, Kansas, who decides that what they're gonna do is they're gonna dedicate themselves to be a people of prayer. They're gonna dedicate themselves to be a people who are willing to pray. To confess the sins of the nation. To own our own sin. And begin to humble ourselves and seek the Lord. Maybe that's where it starts. And I believe that that's where it starts.
Because I've studied the first and second great awakenings. And you know what started the first and second great awakenings? Prayer. That's what happened. Men of God started praying that God would move. And God moved. Do you know how the revival in the book of Acts took place? They dedicated themselves to prayer. And as they dedicated themselves to prayer, God began to move.
The one thing I do not like about the movie Jesus Revolution, I love that movie, but the one thing I do not like about it is that they left out the most important part of the movement. Because the most important part of the movement is when the exact same things were going on in the nation, when there were protests all over the nation in the 1960s, when people were angry with each other, when there was violence in the streets, and there was a bunch of people who were completely opposed to the government, Chuck and Kay decided to do one thing. They went to the beach every day and they prayed for everybody that they saw. And that became the dedication of their life until they saw God move.
And then they kept praying that God would continue the movement. And there's nothing unique about Calvary Chapel when it comes to that. It's how every movement begins. It always is birthed in prayer. It always is birthed in God's movement through the prayers of his people. That's why God said this right here. And while it's in its context directly contextually
towards the Jewish people, I believe in its broader sense it's for anybody who calls themselves by the name of the Lord. It's by anybody who bears the name of the Lord. That if we will begin to be these people that we'll see changes. It may not be nationwide changes but it might be in your family. It might be in our city. It might be in some schools. It might be in your workplace.
But hey, can't hurt. Nothing else is working right now.
It says my eyes will be open. Verse 15, and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For I have chosen and consecrated this house that I have chosen and consecrated this house that I have chosen and consecrated this house that I have chosen that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you walk before me
as your father David walked to do according to all that I have commanded, it will keep my statutes and my ordinances and I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David saying you shall not like a man to be a ruler in Israel. But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them, I will uproot you from the land which I have given you and this house which I have consecrated for my name. I'll cast it out of my sight and I'll make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. As for this house which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, why has the Lord done this to this land and this house?
And they will say, because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt and they adopted other gods and they worshiped them and they served them. Therefore, he's brought all this adversity upon them. While there's a great promise, there's a great warning. May we heed them both. Amen? Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you now.
And Lord, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is so much angst in our country right now. Lord, I see it in every social media post. Father, I see it in every news report. It just feels like there is a heaviness that's hard to describe. And Lord, I know that the only thing that will move in this country is your Holy Spirit. And so Father, I just lift up our nation
to you right now. And Father, I just pray for the movement of your Holy Spirit in this country. Father, I pray that you would forgive us for our sins. Father, I pray that you would forgive us for the sin of abortion that we have continued to perpetuate on the people where we have made life disposable. Father, I pray that you would I pray that you would forgive us
for the sin of lust, Lord, that dominates every movie, that dominates every advertisement, that dominates every bit of our culture, Lord, that is so obsessed. Father, I pray that you would forgive us for being people who love violence. Father, that you would forgive us that life has become disposable and no longer valuable on the world that we live in today. Father, I pray that you would forgive us of our, Lord, entertainment that constantly dominates us, that we are a people who are dominated by the God of entertainment.
I pray that you would forgive us, Lord, for the idol of opinion that dominates and sometimes destroys the lives of the people that are around us. Father, I pray that you would forgive us for these things. And Father, I pray that you would move and may it start in the hearts of the people in this church. Lord, may it start in the hearts of the people of the churches that we would stop caring about our political opinions.
And that we would start caring about people. That we would be less concerned with whether or not people agree with us but whether or not people agree with you. Father, may we not, maybe like Abraham Lincoln said, not try to get you on our side but Lord, try to get ourselves on your side. And so Father, move in our church. Move in our city. Move in our nation,
we pray. We just let these things to you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.