Sweet Smell
Notes
Transcript
Sweet Aroma of Prayer
Sweet Aroma of Prayer
Introduction:
What are some of your favorite smells?
mine: fresh rain; roses; Japanese cherry blossom; puppy; chocolate chip cookies;
There are some smells that just relax and refresh you.
We are going to look at some old testament scripture today.
God set in the beginning for Prayer to be a sweet refreshing thing in our lives.
King David says in the Psalms:
Lord, I cry out to You;
Make haste to me!
Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.
Let my prayer be set before You as incense,
The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
God set up the first church called the tabernacle with specific items that would be a foreshadowing of what we would still do today. Every piece of furniture was designed for intimacy with God. The only one we are going to talk about today is the
Altar of Incense
“You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood. A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width—it shall be square—and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. Two gold rings you shall make for it, under the molding on both its sides. You shall place them on its two sides, and they will be holders for the poles with which to bear it. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
“Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering; nor shall you pour a drink offering on it. And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”
The Altar of Incense was to represent Prayer and worship before the lord. This piece of furniture in the tabernacle was placed right in front of the veil before the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant was. This was so the prayer and worship would be right before the presence of God. The incense represented a sweet savor up to the Lord. The horns on the altar represented power and the horns being on the four corners represented that the prayer would spread to the four corners of the earth. There was a special incense that was to be used on the altar only one kind specially made for this altar no other incense to be used. ( not strange fire)
And the Lord said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.
God lived among the people in the tabernacle but they sacrificed animals for the atonement of their sins and on the day of atonement 10,000 animals where slaughtered. It was no reverent quite thing. They lived around a slaughter house. blood covered priests; smell of gore and blood; sprinkling blood seven times on every piece of furniture
Olfactory nerve in your nose-senor that can trigger things-
They took hot coals and put some incense and walked about the camp wit the incense.
God inspired perfume only allowed to be made by the priests, just when they couldn’t take the stench anymore, here comes the incense that changes the atmosphere and a sweet aroma of relief. The incense made the day of atonement bearable.
Something sweet mixed into a horrible situation. Life can begin to stink and things in life can happen that are horrible.
Prayer makes life bearable; It doesn’t change the situation but makes the atmosphere sweeter.
Prayer right in the middle of it helps us to stand it and bear the circumstances.
My grandmother can’t change the situation:
Point 1:
How do you bear the unbearable?
you take the senor out and bring out the sweet aroma of prayer. Our father....
Prayer changes you.
-they may keep on hating you and talking about you and treating you badly
just pray for them, and just swing that sweet aroma of prayer
Point 2:
The farther you stay away from prayer the more your life will stink.
The less you pray the more you like will stink, the harder it is to stand it, to bear it to stand it to take it.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
He will redeem the stench, he will make it beautiful
Prayer brings joy to your soul, strength to your life,
There are some things i can’t change but if i pray about it i can live with it.
The Lords Prayer is a good way to pray if you don’t know what to say.
How do you not get bitter at God? Prayers are incense that will sweeten you up.
God will make stinky ugly things beautiful in his own time.
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
If you speak in a heavenly language that is also a great way to pray when you don’t know what to say.
Make it a habit. Part of the reason people pray at meals is to remember to pray. I didn’t grow up like that.
Constant state of Prayer- conscious awareness that Jesus is in you listening to you.
Pray instead of getting emotional
Pray before you act
Pray because you are lonley
Pray pray pray pray pray