Latest / The Daily Word / April 6 – Guard the Dwelling Place
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Well, hello on this April 6th, it is Pastor Jenny here. And as we continue reading through the Life Journal, we are in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. And as I was reading this morning, it definitely popped out to me, verses 14, kind of through 16, talking about we are the temple of the living. God. And so I'm going to read those to you. It says, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living. God goes on to say this, as God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. I think it's interesting when we look at this, we do not often think about God walking with us. think we do think about the opposite though. of us walking with others. And we oftentimes, when we want to justify maybe, ⁓ if we're walking with people who are not following God, and we know we might be teetering on a line of whether or not we should be doing that, ⁓ we want to maybe justify ourselves, but we forget. But wait, God is walking with us. And God says He wants to make His dwelling among us and walk among us, and He will be our God, and we will be His people, and we are His temple. And if we think back to the Old Testament, or as I think back to the Old Testament, and you think back to the tabernacle, you think back to the temple, think back to the Holy of Holies, I mean these were sanctified places, the Ark of the Covenant, the Covenant, the places that held God's holy presence. And you're talking the Holy of Holies, like no one could, like the priest could go back there once a year and you had to like draw a lot to go back there. And you really didn't want to go back there, you had to have bells on your ankle because if you hadn't done all the things you were, all the purification processes to go back there, you weren't coming out of there alive at least. ⁓ that was a very serious thing to go into God's presence. And I feel like somewhere along the way we have taken for granted, we have lost the fear of God and we have lost how sacred it is for us ourselves to be not just in the presence of God, to be but to be carriers of the presence of God, to be believers walking with others. Now, don't confuse the fact that, Jesus has called us to be light in the darkness, salt to the earth, and that is a separate thing. But right here, God's talking about hosting His presence. And so again, when it comes to hosting his presence, he takes very seriously whose housing, who's coming into his house, who's sitting around and making a place in his home. And we have become a home for his presence. And so who are we allowing in our lives, in our homes, and to be connected with us in our temple and around our homes? So when it says, not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, when I read this, I have to remind myself that I need to take this very seriously. Who am I connecting myself with in relationship and friendship? Am I really walking in relationship closely with other believers or have I begun to make connection and friendship with the world? I have to ask myself these questions. ⁓ For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, the text says. I have to ask myself that. I have to say, Lord, have I begun to partner in such a way that I've begun to sacrifice what you say? Have I begun to lean a direction away from what your word says to try and go to some ways of the world because I think maybe it's a good for this business deal or for what ⁓ may give me status in the neighborhood or in my friend's group. ⁓ This line too, what fellowship has light with darkness? Listen, light is designed to invade darkness. It's not designed to coexist with darkness. It just doesn't. And so there's no simultaneous things happening here. We cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers. So I'm really challenged today and reminded that my friendships matter, my relationships matter, and I'm not immune to this. No one is immune to this. It doesn't matter what age I am. You know, it's important that I'm raising my children up in this. I'm watching their friendships that are forming. And yes, I, they don't get to choose their friends. Brandon and I are helping them choose their friends and we're working with them on that. ⁓ we're shaping and forming those friendships and we're off friendships as needed. we're, being intentional with our friendships ⁓ and relationships well. But we, we are choosing. because we want to make our relationship with the Lord first. When God says that He will make His dwelling among us and walk with us, and that He will be our God and we shall be His people, verse 17 says, therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, then I will welcome you. I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. I take that very seriously. I hold fast to that. I take that very personally because He is a God that wants to draw us close. So I want to pray for and encourage you today. Evaluate your friendships. Evaluate your relationships today. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you insight and courage to where you may need to separate ⁓ some friendships if needed. and lean into godly relationships today. Lord, we come before you and we thank you, God, that first and foremost, you seek relationship with us. Thank you that you are our Father in heaven and God, that you desire to walk among us. Lord, that you have created a dwelling place with us. Lord, that we are the temple of the living God, that you have created a home in us. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that dwells here on earth with us, that chooses to lead and guide us into all truth. So Holy Spirit, we're asking for your help in every relationship in our life. Would you open any areas and show us, God, if there's any relationships for us personally in the lives of our loved ones, ⁓ if we need to create any separation or for the relationships that Perhaps we didn't realize we should lean into. And so Lord, we thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness to lead and draw us into relationship and to separate us from those that we need to be separated from. In Jesus' amen.