WILDMAN "PRIESTS AT HOME'

1 Peter 2:1-5 “1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

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1 Peter 2:9 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Revelation 5:10 “10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.””

(**** one of my only memories of the priest at the school i went to was how big he was.... he was burely, he was strong, he was (a bit unhealthy) but his largeness wasnt just physical. He was a LARGE person in terms of spirit. I remember specifially his singing. one time i was given the role of holding the bible and walking ahead of Him into the church in the first song. the same song we always sang. I rememver how loud he was. How, with such joy, he would sing as he walked down the isle of our little church where we would do our weekly mass as a school boy. It impressed me. He was, although a priest, actually HAPPY.

“PRIESTS AT HOME”

The priestly role was associated with the tabernacle and temple. It emphasized sacrifice, site maintenance, and education.

In ancient Israel, priests acted as mediators between God and people. They ministered according to God's instruction and they offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. Once a year, the high priest would enter the holiest part of the temple and offer a sacrifice for the sins of all the people, including all the priests.

numbers 18:7 “7 And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.””

Im the pre exile period the main focus of a priest was to offer sacrifices and maintain the sites of worship like the tabernacle.

Post-exile this shifted a little towards Leadership and Education.

Being a PRIEST for God was a UNIQUE, SPECIFC and HIGH SPECIALIZED ROLE. A citical FUNCTION for the PEOPLE of God

and CONSIDERED A VERY IMPORTANT FUNCTION FOR GOD.

Some fun facts about Priests

They had to be BORN into it. If you werent in the Line of AARON or from the TRIBE of LEVI you couldnt be a priest. A whole tribe, a whole original family was dedicated to the PRIESTHOOD.

They were considered Unique & Different - priests were set apart their whole lives for this work.

They were blessed but they werent in it for the blessing - didn’t land an inheritance - their inheritance was the Lord Himself.

They had to be precise - They would have to wash and be riutually clean before entering (and old tale is that they used to tie a rope around the ankle of the high priest)

THERE ARE AMAZING PARRALLELS THAT EXIST HERE.

But fast forward to today here is what we do know.

Peter - calls our role now a holy priesthood. a mediator ourselves

As men, as are the priests of our home.

But what if we were the people who REALLY acted like the priests over the home?

SO IF WE CAN ACCEPT THAT AS THE SPIRITUAL HEAD OF OUR HOMES AND THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WELLBEING AND THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE WERE CALLED BY GOD TO LEAD.

WHAT DID PRIESTS DO… AND LET ME DRAW A PICTURE THEN OF WHAT WE ARE TO DO:

(now what im about to say may shock you, it may open your eyes to some things, it may challenge and some of this may even offend you a bit. Let it shake you up in a way and stir something in you that MEANS you leave here challenged to be PRIEST in your HOME.

1.PRIESTS WOULD LEAD THE PEOPLE.

we are called to lead our people.

Priests would lead the meetings in the tabernacle and the ceremonies in the temple.

We need to LEAD spiritually in our homes.

What does this mean?

Do you assume THE LEAD SPIRITUAL ROLE.?

Are you seeing yourself as the GOD-APPOINTED and INSTALLED prime example for everyone in the HOME of what a Christian is to be.

Not trying to be perfect

Not a perfect person. A Christian.

So that means using our CHRIST-LIKE example - Like a PRIEST would, Were called to lead.

I want to encourage us all that we, as men, are the ones that have the HEAD role. The Lead by example. I see a lot

Two real quick ways to lead like priest in your home:

be the head worship leader. Not mum. Not one of the kids who has a gift of music and a nice voice. i have a horrible sounding voice probably but i dont care. God loves it when i sing to him and my kids need to hear me singing to him!

Set up a sporifty playlist and add to it, find new worship music. Load it up and play it in the house and the car. its amazing how many worship songs my kids know because i play alot of worship in the truck.

He the guy who knows the bible: Priests would have an intricate knowledge of the torah/ the hebrew bible......We as Men, As Priests in our homes, should lead the charge when it comes to reading the Bible. We should consume the most scripture of anyone in out homes and we should know the most scripture in out homes.

i think it irritates my kids but i play the audio bible in the truck. I think it bugs my kids alot but i play messages and feeding myself constantly on the word. but they are witynessed it ands it matters and GOD WILL honor it and use it and use it to bless your kids and your family in jesus name!

2.PRIESTS WOULD SERVE PEOPLE.

We are called to serve our people.

numbers 18:7 “7 And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.””

We should be the head servant in the home and in the house of God.

starting at home......We should be the HEAD SERVANTS in our HOMES.

That starts for us, as our FIRST ministry.

We serve our wives in the way we lay down our lives for her like Christ did the church.

So how are we serving as priests right now.

STATEMENT: Ive got no BUSINESS Serving ANYONE in this CHURCH if my FAMILY IS NOT SERVED in MY HOME.

We should be the lead servants in our homes.

No One should occupy that place over us.

The WORLD tries to DEPICT or GIVE US A PICTURE that a MANS ROLE in the HOME is to JUST COME HOME whenever from the office, the Golf course, the Gym or wherever we want to be and then when we get home being a REAL man is that ill be BE THE BIG DOG who gets the biggest MEAL at MEALTIME. and everyone runs around after him.

no.

in the Kingdom its the opposite: our Role is to SERVE OUR FAMILIES like PRIESTS SERVE THE PEOPLE.

(i remember being served communion by the priest as a schoolboy: standing there as person after person would come and he would SERVE them. We are to be the SOURCE OF BLESSING.

WHERE OUR PEOPLE COME is to US:

There should be a sense spiritually that everyone in our home is continually COMING to us for counsel, for blessing, for help, for wisdom, for encouragement

Serving or our FAMILIES as PRIESTS over our home.

3.PRIESTS WOULD BRING ORDER

We are called to bring a HOLY order to our HOMES and our WORLDS.PRIESTS would follow a strict pattern of order to a group of people

They would bring a flow.

This is a “This is what we are doing” kind of order to things.

thats what we are supposed to do as well.

We shouldn’t giveaway this responsiblity to someone else. this is our responsibility.

If there is chaos in your home - it’s YOUR responsibility to lead through it.

Not sledgehammer leadership

Gentle, Christlike humble leading.

Firm but gentle and consistent.

Clear and GRACE-FILLED.

if there is DRAMA in your home. Its actually on YOU.

*one of the things i do when i get home is i eitehr think its too hot or its too cold. Dads ADJUST THE THERMOSTAT: something i do and have done for a while now that my kids are younger but if come home from work and Jills home with the kids and i can tell

TAKE INVENTORY OF THE TEMP/SITUATION/ATMOSPHERE/ENVIORNMENT

and do something about it.

Don’t settle for a chaotic environment. That’s not priestly and it’s not what God intends.

(if there is stuff happemning in your family were gonna pray for you guys at the end and we want to help you as you l;ead through it, your not alone)_.

4.PRIESTS WOULD MINISTER AND OFFER SACRIFICES

were called to MINSITER and Sacirifce.

Minister to God and people

And offer sacrifices in our role as priests.

Hebrews 8:3 “3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.”

What are we offering for our families?

And what sacrifices are we making for them.?

Priests would MAKE AND OFFER SACRIFICES AS A WAY FOR BETTER STANDING FOR PEOPLE BEFORE GOD

THEY WOULD IMPROVE THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION FOR A PERSON.

Do we do this in our own homes?

so What is our OFFERING?… or LET ME SAY IT THIS WAY: how are we offering restoration and adding spiritial value in our homes?

are we making its SPIRITUAL CONDITION BETTER BECAUSE WE ARE THERE.

Bringing an offering for your family might be to address something serious thats going on and bring a word of encouragement.

Sacificing for our families might mean stopping every mealtime and thanking God for EVERYTHING you have and asking God for a specific blessing over your home.

It might be instead of leaving a tough conversation wih your wife or your kids to someone else or not having it at all, but rather HAVING it in a gentle and loving way to LEAD a way towards restiratuion, Change or breakthriugh.

Some of you guys as husbands just need to lead the conversation when it comes to imtimacy with your wives. not leave it unaddressed. Some of us with our kids need to sit down and gently and lovingly DEAL with some things and bring a WHOLENESS to our families.

I wonder what area of sacrifice is needed in your home right now (tip: its probably exactly where it feels like there is tension or a tense-ness right now or ongoing).

5.PRIESTS WOULD INTERCEDE & MEDIATE.

Hebrews 7:25 “25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Jesus continually makes w intercession for us and in Christlike example as the priests over our homes we are to intercede on behalf of our families.

To me interceding means this: “To plead or make a request on behalf of another or others.”

WE GET INVOLVED ON SOMEONE’s BEHALF.

There could be someone in here tonite and the answer to our families breakthrough is your involvement.

as you intercede, God brings change.

as you step into the GAP.

Do you war in prayer over and for your family.

Do you Claim the victory

Do you believe for the walls to fall flat

Do you Contend in the faith for them.

Do you claim their inheritance on their behalf.

(My prayer is that my kids will get the FULL SHARE of the promised inheritance that God has for them).

this is why we have wednesday morning zoom prayer. monthly grill and chill. WDG’s starting up. Let us wage a holy war with the enemy with you.

6.PRIESTS WOULD TEACH & INSTRUCT

This was especially true in the POST-EXILE time.

God has called us, to Lead our families in the learning of SCRIPTURE.

this is where im gonna meddle a little bit and i might get at ya.

Even if you don’t know it yourself.

You can LEARN the ways of God, His word and PASS IT ON.

Psalm 145:4 “4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”

Here’s a trick: put on Bible teaching and messages on the living room TV.

Play past entire series on Colonial TV.

We have an Apple TV app. Okay messages on repeat.

(TheosU).

7.PRIESTS WOULD WASH & HELP MAKE CLEAN

Numbers 8:5-7 “5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. 7 Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.”

That was the OLD way

Now the mnew way:

ephesians 5:25-26 “25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”

We can, AS RESTORED, LOVED, GRACED everyday MEN WHO JUST LOVE JESUS - We can Minister Holiness to our families:

We purify our wives and children with our speech as we wash them with the WORD of God.

We can send verses on text to ouur wiuves during the day

Words of encouragement

Words of PRAISE.

God has given us the ability to WASH CLEAN our FAMILIES with the WORD of GOD. Isnt that AMAZING./

MINISTRY TIME: We wanna help you. We want to walk with you and pray for you. Everyone is welcome for prayer in our church. you dont have to come every week.

IM GONNA PRAY OVER AND FOR ALL OF US. And were gonna sing.

But were gonna have men down hetre… godly men. Ready to pray in any area of your PRIESTHOOD. Maybe its a child thats gone asray fom the lord. Maybe its a struggle in your marriage. Maybe its jst for you.

dont leave tonite without as taking a moment to pray over you.