God of Glory

Announcements

I want to thank everyone for the kind cards and gifts

I read every card and was blessed by each one of them

Thank you for the kind words and I am very grateful to be your pastor

We will have a meal after service today

Ashley is making fancy sandwiches

I think others have brought things

All are invited

Witnessing update

We met

A man without hope

A lady who was unaware of why she needed Christ

A young couple who were reminded

INTRODUCTION

We are in a series studying the mission of God as it is displayed throughout the Bible. We are only hitting some highlights in Scripture that record significant events that help us to see the bigger picture of what God is doing in history. It is my hope that we will better understand God’s mission so we can align our lives with it.

The first week we talked about sin entering the world through Adam. And remember when Adam disobeyed God, the entire human race became sinners. We are born with a sinful nature which means we are inclined to sin. But we also read the good news in Genesis 3:15 that God was going to send a deliver who would conquer the evil one.

Last week we talked about God’s call to Abraham. And through Abraham God promised to make a great nation that would bless the entire earth. Abraham believed God’s promise and yielded his life to Him. From Abraham came the nation of Israel and the beginning of God’s people. This is why Abraham is called the father of faith.

Today we are going to skip all the way over to 2 Chronicles 6:12. We are fast forward about 1,000 years from the call of Abraham to the dedication of the temple. And one of the main themes in this temple dedication is God’s glory. God’s glory filled the temple, God’s covenant rested with His people inside the temple, and God’s name was projected by the temple. Think about that for a moment, when people saw or heard of the temple they immediately thought of Yahweh. They immediately thought of the God who brought Israel out of the slavery in Egypt. They immediately thought of God parting the Red Sea and the walls of Jericho falling down.

Where is God’s temple today? “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

Part of God’s mission is to fill the earth with His glory. God made Adam in His own image and gave him dominion over the whole earth. Listen to this promise from Habakkuk, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.” God is saying there is coming a time when the entire earth will be covered with His glory! What is He talking about? He is talking about all those who will be redeemed through Jesus Christ. When people come to Christ, are saved, they become a vessel of God’s glory. So through the multiplication of disciples, God’s glory is expanding over the whole earth. And in everything that we do as God’s people, we must remember that our priority is to bring glory to God.

MESSAGE

Bring Him glory in your prayers

2 Chronicles 6:12-13

2 Chronicles 6:12–13 NASB95

Then he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. Now Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

Can you picture a more holy, genuine, God exalting prayer than this? Here is the king of the entire nation of Israel on his knees before the entire assembly of Israel with hands raised to the heavens praying to Almighty God? But this prayer was not some kind of show, nor was it about Solomon’s great achievement, it was a prayer centered around exulting and glorifying God.

When we make a habit of praising God in our prayers it begins to pour out in our lives. We begin to see things in a different light and see more of the hand of God. We must make a habit out of praising God.

(v 14-15)

2 Chron 6:14-15

2 Chronicles 6:14–15 (NASB95)

He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness 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 him; indeed You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

Notice how Solomon begins this prayer, with praise to God! He did not open up with requests, or with pleas, or with confession, but with praises glorifying God! In my personal prayer life I do not do this enough. I am so quick to ask and slow to praise.

What can we praise God for when times are hard? When things do not seem to be going our way?

#1 There is nothing else in this world that can compare to our God.

No amount of wealth or possession, no amount of power or authority, no human being alive, not even the angels in heaven can compare to the majesty and greatness of our God! God is so far infinitely above everything else and yet sent His Son down from heaven to have a relationship with us! The God who can do anything, spoke this world into existence, cures diseases, heals broken hearts and saves the soul calls us to walk with Him. What a marvelous thing to think about!

How is He great? Look what Solomon says about him, “He keeps his covenant with his servants”. What is a covenant? A covenant is different than a contract. A contract is like saying that is yours and this is mine whereas a Covenant says I am yours and you are mine. Contracts are based on profit and self-interest, whereas Covenants are based on loyalty and love. Contracts are temporary whereas covenants are permanent. And God’s covenant with His servant is not based on obligation but out of love. This verses says is saying really saying this that God is faithful to His covenant of love.

Here is the point, Gos is faithful to His people! And He is not 95% faithful, He is 100% faithful 100% of the time! And we can bet our lives upon the faithfulness of God! When He makes a promise in His Word He keeps His promises forever! What He says He will do and we can rest assured it will come to pass!

Why does God deserve glory? Because no one else in this world can keep a covenant like God. Do you know what Jesus teaches us about making promises? He says, let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Why is it ok for God to make a promise but not us? Because only God can keep His promises 100% of the time

Application

Our mission therefore is not to get people to come to our church, or to know our pastor, or to experience our church community, or anything else. The best thing that we have going for us is our God. The only thing that we have worth talking about is our God! And what makes our faith worth giving everything for, is our God. Nothing else is worth getting excited over because people can get that anywhere else!

#2 Only God can meet people’s greatest need

2 Chronicles 6:20-21

2 Chronicles 6:21 (NASB95)

“Listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive.

Not only is God incomparable to anything else but only God can forgive our sins. “Hear and forgive” is a prayer that God would do what no one else on earth could do, no other religions, not other way! Only God can forgive our sins and make us right with Him.

When I am sharing Christ with people, I like to ask them this question, “Do you know why you need to be saved?” Most of the answers I get are “I have no idea”. Many of the people do not even understand the term “saved” means. But rarely if ever will I ever hear someone say anything about having our sins forgiven. The sum of the whole gospel is that Christ died for our sins! And man’s greatest need 9as we saw in Gen. 3 is to be freed from the power of sin! Nothing else in this world is more important!

If your sins are forgiven, then you will never receive a greater reason to glorify and exult God! We are not here to make church members, or more religious people, we are here to bring people to the only One who can forgive sins!

Heb 9:22

Hebrews 9:22 (NASB95)

And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Had Jesus not suffered, bled, died, and been raised from the dead the whole world would be without hope!

Application

Imagine if you were to discover to cure for cancer. Because you had cancer, and your treatment cured you completely. And there was a whole world searching for a cure, but only your cure would work. What would you do?

You would go and tell someone right? You would go to the News station and tell all the people that you have found a cure. You would get on FB and twitter let everyone know that they don’t have to die! Your desire would that the whole world would know of this life saving cure! We know of the “cure” for sin. And it is the the gospel of Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

When God is glorified through us, people are drawn to God

2 Chronicles 6:32-33

2 Chronicles 6:32–33 (NASB95)

“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 pray toward this house, then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for 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.

Solomon’s prayer was not just for Israel, but for the foreigners. And this paragraph is why I chose this Scripture to preach from because it really shocked me. I have always thought of Israel as exclusive of outsiders. And in the NT we see that same kind of ideology of exclusion to anyone except the Jewish people. But that is not at all what we see here! This temple was built to serve the entire world!

What does this tell us about God? (1) He is not just the God of Israel, he is the God of the entire world! And God is not only interested in Israel, but for anyone who desires to know Him. And if we are are going to join in on God’s mission then we have to have a much bigger view than our community or our family.

How many people do you think live in America? (325 million)

How many people do you think live in the entire world? (8 billion)

Look at these maps

The first represents land mass = people

The second represents earth broken into billions of people

If Solomon had a heart for the nations of the world, shouldn’t we?

If every person is made in the image of God, shouldn’t we value them all equally?

God values every soul the same

And God will save anyone who comes to Him

And anyone who comes to Him will become our brother or sister in Christ

Look in these two verses and see if you give me the reason that foreigners will come to this temple and seek a relationship with God

“for Your (God’s) great name’s sake”

“Your mighty hand”

“Your outstretched arm”

Application:

What would draw all these the people to God is His great name.

His reputation, His mighty works, His hand upon His people, His faithfulness to His people and His loving kindness in our lives.

Do you know what is going to win people to Christ around you? When they see the hand of God in your life and you give all the glory to God.

When your neighbor asks you why you are so blessed, and you tell them, “because God has blessed me”

Or when your family asks you why your life has changed so dramatically, and you tell them, “its because God has saved me”.

When your friends want to know how you have such a wonderful marriage after all these years, and you tell them, “It’s because of God”

What people need to hear more of is the goodness and faithfulness of God. What our country needs to hear more of is the greatness of God at work in our lives. This world can give them all the other stuff, but what we have in Jesus Christ is should be shouted from the rooftops and proclaimed to all people. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last!

What does it mean to give glory to God? It means “to add weight” to something. It means to make something heavy, important, significant. Our mission first and foremost is to make God significant to the whole world.

Here is a guiding question that I am going to close with. Before you do anything that you are unsure of, ask yourself this question, “If I do this, will it bring glory to God?” Is this decision going to illuminate Christ to the world?

Paul said whatever you do, do ALL for the glory of God. Give God glory in your prayer life. Tell people that there is nothing greater in this life than to know Him. Proclaim to the world that only God can give them what they really need. And trust that it is making a difference for God’s glory.

~PRAYER~