A Home To Come Back To Part 5 "Repairing the House"
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And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the Lord, even the money of every one that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that cometh into any man’s heart to bring into the house of the Lord,
Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.
Introduction.
Introduction.
When Solomon build the temple in Jerusalem it was a magnificent building, perfect in its design, the plans came from David, who received them by revelation from Jehovah Himself.
Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat,
And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things:
(Vessels by weight, etc.)
All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.
The pattern came from God. When it was finished it must have been glorious.
(According to Biblecharts.org, the cost of building the temple today has been estimated to be equal to three to six billion dollars.) No expense was spared.
No matter how wonderful the building is, if it is not taken care of, it will crumble.
A church or a family is the same. Constant care must be taken, or they will crumble.
It had been about 120 years, but there was a very specific reason why the temple was in disrepair.
(Woman and the bees)
For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim.
[פָּרַק] vb. tear apart, away — Qal tear away; snatch from (מִן) foes, = rescue. Pi. tear off; rend. Hithp. tear off (for, i.e. from, oneself); pass. be broken off (branches).
Those princes of Judah who should have been caring for the upkeep of the house of God, instead used it for personal gain.
The same thing happened in the New Testament.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Taking the gold and jewels from the temple.
The interior of the temple was covered in fine gold and precious stones.
And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
The sons of Athaliah took the Gold.
Solomon’s temple was designed in a similar way to the ark of the covenant. Gold over wood.
Now watch the ark of the covenant. He said, “You shall make it out of acacia wood, and overlay it with gold.” Anyone who knows the Scripture, know that gold speaks of Deity, and wood speaks of humanity.
See, He said, “You shall cover it, overlay it with gold, over the wood,” that’s Deity over the wood; Christ over the Church, inside and out. Deity, overlaid!
You’ll have a lid on top of it. It’ll be a mercy seat, and all the laws will rest in it. But before you take it in, sprinkle it over with blood. The law speaks of judgment, but between the law and the congregation was a curtain, for Deity stood in this place.
Type of Christ! Between the wrath of God, the judgment in hell, between that and the believer stands Deity Himself, Christ, standing in the way, with an atonement made, to save us from our sins, and to heal us from our sickness.
The law was a judge. The law judged, but the atonement stood between the confessed believer and the judgment. There laid the judgment in the ark, ready to come forth. But when it did, it couldn’t, for there was an atonement standing between it and the believer.
And the believer come and accepted Christ, in the shadow and type, shed blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat. Then he had mercy, and could walk away, rejoicing, because he was free from judgment.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
And when a man knows that he has died to the things of the world, and those that get in Christ Jesus; and walking according to the Holy Spirit, and not the ways of this sinful world, there is no condemnation to him.
He can look in the face of hell and judgment, and rejoice, because there’s the Blood of Christ making atonement, standing between him and judgment.
The believer, once in, the lid is shut down, and that settles it for all time. Amen. Gold, Deity, laid over and underneath it, and all around it. Wrapped up in Deity!
Every man that’s come into Christ, is wrapped up in the Holy Spirit and becomes sons and daughters of God.
Over in this beat-out gold. They got it hot and beat it. And the beater of the gold, beat the gold. He had to beat it with a hammer. And they beat the gold until he’d see his reflection in it. Then get her hot, and pour her out over the ark, and it soaked into the wood.
When the Holy Spirit, being the power, Holy Ghost and Fire, poured out upon the believer, through the Blood of Christ, makes an atonement there for him. He is safe from all Divine judgment. 55-0522 - The Ark
This is what Athaliah’s sons stole from the temple. Deity over humanity.
And, oh, what a sad day it was, when the church world left off the Divine leadership of the Holy Ghost, and adopted a bishop or anything else to take Its place. It was a sad day.
The Holy Spirit is to be the leader of the church. He is sent to confirm the Words of Jesus Christ, to make the church live as it did live at the beginning. 65-0427 - Does God Change His Mind?
The devil wants to steal the leadership of the Holy Ghost from your family as well.
He wants to strip the deity off of the wood.
That’s the reason that all this here snarling and fussing and backbiting, and biting back, and carrying on around the church, that’s what breaks up the church. That shows that the devil got into you, and that shows the Holy Ghost left you.
Now there’s only one thing to do, get that thing out of there, and the Dove will come back to your heart. When the dove went out of the ark, she was turned out. But she come back and knocked at that ark door until Noah let her in.
The Holy Ghost is here. The Holy Ghost wants to come in. That’s the reason today, that the Holy Spirit, He hasn’t gone from you forever.
It’s just sitting out there on the limbs of the trees somewhere, ready to fly Itself back and to come into you, and give you love and peace and joy like you used to have. Sure, It is. He’s ready to do it. He wants to do it. He’s longing to do it. But you won’t let Him do it!
As long as that lamb nature leaves you, then the Holy Ghost is gone. And that’s what’s the matter today. That’s the reason the people is in the condition they are, is because they let the wrong spirit come into their heart, into their life.
The Bible said that’s the reason there’s so many sick and afflicted among us, is because of such things. We must be gentle. We must be peaceful. We must be a lamb, so that the Dove can abide with us.
(The Holy Ghost can come upon you, but He won’t abide when you act like a wolf.)
But, you see, the reason He couldn’t abide. You was a lamb then; but when you become a wolf, He had to take His flight. Nothing wrong with the Dove; it’s you let that spirit come to you.
“Did I let it, Brother Branham?” Yes, when you went to listening to that gossip, when you listened to that lie, when you went to saying, “Well, I’ve got a right to!”
You haven’t got no right! You are bought with a price, that was the price of the precious Blood of the Son of God. You have no legal rights. Hallelujah!
The only rights you have, is, come to the Fountain filled with Blood drawn from Emmanuel’s Vein, when sinners plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stain.
Yes, sir. That’s the only right you have, is a surrendered self-will, to God, and then God does the leading from then on. 56-0805 - The Church And Its Condition
How do we repair the House, where the Holy Spirit would feel welcome once again?
And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord.
1. Hold Leadership Accountable.
1. Hold Leadership Accountable.
And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.
They wasted 23 years.
And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?
It’s too bad that we ever got away from the real Leader that God left us to lead the Church. He never sent state presbyters. He never sent bishops, cardinals, priests, popes. He sent the Holy Ghost for the Church, to lead the Church.
“When He the Holy Ghost is come, He will lead you into all Truth, reveal these things to you, that I have told you, bring them to your remembrance, and will show you things that is to come.” The Holy Spirit was to do that. 65-0429E - The Choosing Of A Bride
If the house is in disrepair, maybe your leader is no longer the Holy Ghost.
2. Get Back to God’s Way of Doing Things
2. Get Back to God’s Way of Doing Things
And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord.
And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the Lord the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.
Lets get back to running the church like we were taught.
The Church is to be operated by nine spiritual gifts, by the Holy Spirit. He has gifts, signs, and wonders in the Church. That’s God’s provided way of perfecting His Church. We try anything else: theology, teaching, anything else, it’ll never work. It never did, and it never will.
We’ve got to come back to God’s way. God has a way to support a Church, not making blankets and having soup suppers, but every man paying his tithes and offerings into the church, doing the way God said do. That’s God’s provided way for that.
God’s got a provided way for a man to come into the Church. Today the way we bring men into the church, is give him a letter, bring him into the church, the right hand of fellowship, sprinkle a little salt shaker full of water on top of his head, and bring him into the church.
That’s not what God said. God’s got a different way from that to bring the people into His Church. By one Spirit, we’re all baptized into one Body, by the Holy Spirit. God’s provided way of bringing men, Christians into the Church, believers.
Peter said on the day of Pentecost, “Repent, every one of one and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and your children, and to them that’s far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
That must continue on; as long as the Lord was calling, God still promised the Holy Ghost. That’s right. That’s God’s provided way of coming into the Church. 54-0305 - God's Provided Way Of Dealing With Sin
There is five offices elected of God. “For God has set in the Church apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists.” God did that.
Man has deacons and so forth, and everything else, but you see, but God set in the Church for the perfecting of the Church; can’t divide it. 64-0823E - Questions And Answers #2
God always used man for His work. Is that right? He don’t use organizations, or so forth, and mechanical devices, but He uses men. The Holy Spirit fell upon men. That’s God’s instrument here on earth. 47-1102 - The Angel Of God
God won’t leave His program. That’s the reason we know that, this day, It’s got to be simple. See? Now, He always works in simplicity.
But God, in the beginning, that could have made the sun preach the Gospel, or the winds preach the Gospel, or an Angel preach the Gospel, but He ordained men for that purpose, and He never changes it.
He never ordained denominations, He never ordained groups of men, He ordained men to preach the Gospel, not machinery, mechanical devices, or any Angelic Being, it was men. 63-0317M - God Hiding Himself In Simplicity, Then Revealing Himself In The Same
Let’s get back to the old landmarks. The right way.
Let’s get back to a man and a woman, a husband and a wife. Let’s get back to Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 and 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Peter 3. Lets get back to family prayer and order in the home.
3. Faithfulness in Giving and Work
3. Faithfulness in Giving and Work
And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.
They kept giving until the chest was full.
Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.
Churches aren’t repaired in a day. Every time you come the house of God you bring a spiritual currency, your own lick of fire.
He works through you and I as portions of God. That’s why the Holy Spirit, when It come on the day of Pentecost, It broke all up, that Pillar of Fire, and divided Itself in licks of tongues, and sat upon each one. We have to have one another. 60-0311 - Mary's Belief
And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord.
So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.
They were happy to do the work, because they were repairing God’s house. they were yielding themselves to do the work they were born to do.
He’s manifesting Hisself to us in human flesh, our flesh, through the Holy Spirit, as we can yield ourself to that Holy Spirit.
Now there is the thing, knowing how to yield yourself. And some people is set in the Church; some can yield themselves to preaching. Some can yield themselves easily to teaching. Some can yield themselves to prophesying.
Some can yield themselves to other gifts. So all the gifts won’t be alike. They wasn’t alike then; Paul said they wasn’t. But each man is called and placed into the Church for a purpose.
And if you’ll find out what God can use him best at, and yield hisself to that place, he will be a success. 59-0404 - What Is The Works Of God?
Conclusion.
Conclusion.
You have been tasked with keeping God’s house in repair, so that your children will have a home to come back to. Take a look around, are there breaches in the walls? Will the prodigal remember the house or want nothing to do with it?