Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 6:1-21 - The Posture of Prayer

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2 Chronicles 6:1-21 - The Posture of Prayer · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Hi, their faithful listeners, Welcome to the Bible Explain podcast
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  Speaker 1: on this lovely Monday morning. Well, happy November everybody. I
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  Speaker 1: hope that you had a good weekend and good Halloween
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  Speaker 1: if you guys celebrate. I am just appalled that it's
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  Speaker 1: already November, absolutely appalled. I cannot believe that it's already
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  Speaker 1: as cold as it is. I feel like summer just
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  Speaker 1: didn't happen, like I don't know where it went, but
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  Speaker 1: suddenly summer was just gone, like after five days, and
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  Speaker 1: now the snow comes again. But you know what, I
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  Speaker 1: don't like snow, but I wouldn't trade it for the world,
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  Speaker 1: because I am extremely thankful to be where I'm at.
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  Speaker 1: I'm thankful to be near my parents. I'm thankful to
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  Speaker 1: be near my church family. I wouldn't trade any of
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  Speaker 1: it for a warmer location. Let's go ahead and read
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  Speaker 1: Second Chronicles, chapter six one through twenty one. I'll be reading,
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  Speaker 1: as always from the web. I hope that you guys
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  Speaker 1: have your cup of coffee or you a cup of
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  Speaker 1: tea ready on this very cold morning. I have mine
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  Speaker 1: right here, so share it with me, and also grab
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  Speaker 1: your Bible out of the version that you prefer let's
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and read this prayer that Solomon gives in
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  Speaker 1: dedication of the temple to God once again. This is
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  Speaker 1: Second Chronicle sixth one through twenty one. Then Solomon said,
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
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  Speaker 1: But I have built you a house and a home,
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  Speaker 1: a place for you to dwell in forever. The king
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  Speaker 1: turned his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: And all the assembly of Israel stood. He said, blessed
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  Speaker 1: be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his
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  Speaker 1: mouth to David my father, and as with his hands
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  Speaker 1: fulfilled it, saying, since the day that I brought my
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  Speaker 1: people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no
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  Speaker 1: city out of all the tribes of Israel to build
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  Speaker 1: a house in that my name might be there. I
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  Speaker 1: chose no man to be prince over my people Israel.
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  Speaker 1: But now I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might
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  Speaker 1: be there. And I have chosen David to be over
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  Speaker 1: my people Israel. Now it was in the heart of
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  Speaker 1: David my father, to build a house for the name
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  Speaker 1: of Yahweh, the God of Israel. But Yahweh said to
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  Speaker 1: David my father. Whereas it was in your heart to
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  Speaker 1: build a house for my name, you did well that
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  Speaker 1: it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build
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  Speaker 1: the house. But your son, who will come out of
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  Speaker 1: your body, he shall build the house for my name.
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has performed his word that I spoke. For I
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  Speaker 1: have risen up in the place of David, my father,
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  Speaker 1: and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised,
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  Speaker 1: and have built the house for the name of Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: the God of Israel. There I have set the ark
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  Speaker 1: in which is Yahways covenant which he has made with
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  Speaker 1: the children of Israel. He stood before y always alter,
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  Speaker 1: in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and
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  Speaker 1: spread out his hands. For Solomon had made a bronze
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  Speaker 1: platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high,
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  Speaker 1: and set it in the middle of the court. And
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  Speaker 1: he stood on it and knelt down on his knees
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  Speaker 1: before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his
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  Speaker 1: hands toward Heaven. Then he said, Yahweh, the God of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: there is no god like you in heaven or on earth.
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  Speaker 1: You who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants
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  Speaker 1: who walk before you with all their heart, who have
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  Speaker 1: kept with your servant, David my Father, that which you
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  Speaker 1: promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and you
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  Speaker 1: have fulfilled it with your hand as it is today. Now, Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh the God of Israel, keep with your servant, David
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  Speaker 1: my Father, that which you have promised him, saying, there
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  Speaker 1: shall not fail you, a man in my sight, to
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  Speaker 1: sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children
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  Speaker 1: take heed to their way, to walk in my laws,
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  Speaker 1: as you have walked before me. Now therefore, Yeahweh, the
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  Speaker 1: God of Israel, Let your word be verified which you
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  Speaker 1: spoke to your servant, David. But will God indeed dwell
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  Speaker 1: with men on earth? Behold, Heaven and the heaven of
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  Speaker 1: heavens can't contain you how much less this house which
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  Speaker 1: I have built. Yet have respect for the prayer of
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  Speaker 1: your servant and to his supplication. Yahweh my God, to
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  Speaker 1: listen to the cry and to the prayer which your
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  Speaker 1: servant prays before you, that your eyes may be opened
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  Speaker 1: toward this house day and night, even toward the place
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  Speaker 1: which you have said that you would put your name.
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  Speaker 1: To listen to the prayer which your servant will pray
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  Speaker 1: towards this place. Listen to the petition of your servant
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  Speaker 1: and of your people, Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: from your dwelling place, even from heaven, and when you
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  Speaker 1: hear forgive. In the last chapter, we talked about Solomon
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  Speaker 1: beginning the dedication of the temple. Everything has been complete.
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  Speaker 1: The ark of the Covenant is now in its place
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  Speaker 1: inside the temple, and we talked about that, and we
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  Speaker 1: talked also about how God actually came and accepted the
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  Speaker 1: temple by having his presence fill the temple in the
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  Speaker 1: form of a cloud.
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  Speaker 2: And this cloud was so thick.
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  Speaker 1: That the priests who had actually dedicated themselves and were
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  Speaker 1: clean for the service of the temple, they were not
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  Speaker 1: able to go into the temple, even though they were
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  Speaker 1: considered holy and clean in the eyes of God. Because
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  Speaker 1: of God's rich presence inside the temple, even the priests
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  Speaker 1: weren't able to enter. And so this spurs Solomon to
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  Speaker 1: say a speech to Israel and say a prayer to
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  Speaker 1: God publicly.
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  Speaker 2: And that's where we leave off today.
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  Speaker 1: In second Chronicles six, verse one, which says Solomon said,
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
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  Speaker 1: But I've built you a house and a home, a
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  Speaker 1: place for you to dwell in forever. So God dwells
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  Speaker 1: in the thick darkness. That's talking probably about the cloud
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  Speaker 1: that God's presence is associated with a lot of times
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  Speaker 1: when we see God in the Old Testament, it's in
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  Speaker 1: the form of a cloud. For example, the cloud that
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  Speaker 1: filled the temple right here, and also the cloud that
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  Speaker 1: led Israel in the wilderness some five hundred years before this.
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  Speaker 1: God is often associated as a cloud, and so when
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  Speaker 1: Solomon says that God dwells in the thick darkness, he
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  Speaker 1: very likely is referring to this cloud that he's actually
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  Speaker 1: looking at that is filling the temple right at this moment.
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  Speaker 1: He says, but I've built you a house and a home,
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  Speaker 1: a place for you to dwell in forever. Now, Solomon
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  Speaker 1: was very excited about this temple, as you can see,
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  Speaker 1: he truly believed it was a place where God's presence
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  Speaker 1: could live forever, live among his people. Solomon understood that
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  Speaker 1: God truly did want to live among his people because
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  Speaker 1: that was God's prime goal from the very beginning, Like
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  Speaker 1: when he created people, his goal was to live with them.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted to dwell with his people, but then because
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  Speaker 1: of sin, you know, people kind of messed all of
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  Speaker 1: that up. But even so God's prime objective still stands,
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  Speaker 1: which is to live with his people. So you can
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  Speaker 1: see multiple times God has tried to do this. Most
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  Speaker 1: famously was in the wilderness. God actually was with his
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  Speaker 1: people on a day to day basis, leading them through
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness in the form of a cloud by day
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  Speaker 1: and a pillar of fire by night, and then his
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  Speaker 1: presence settled on the mountain. But the people just didn't
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  Speaker 1: want God near them, and so they basically told Moses,
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  Speaker 1: They're like, get God away from us or we will die.
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  Speaker 1: Like you go talk to God, We're gonna go do
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  Speaker 1: a thing over here. So the people never wanted God
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  Speaker 1: to live with them, but God has tried on multiple occasions.
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  Speaker 1: So now once again God has accepted this house that
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  Speaker 1: Solomon built because he wants to live with his people.
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  Speaker 1: But the thing that Solomon didn't understand is that this
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  Speaker 1: was not a house God was going to live in forever.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, God didn't stay in this house for very
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  Speaker 1: long because almost immediately the people started corrupting the temple
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  Speaker 1: by bringing in idolatry and other really weird things, and
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  Speaker 1: God left the temple because his home became corrupted with
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  Speaker 1: sin and idolatry and all sorts of really crazy things.
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  Speaker 1: As we're going to find out in the Book of Ezekiel,
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  Speaker 1: God actually shows Ezekiel everything going on inside the temple.
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  Speaker 2: So no, God does not stay in the temple for
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  Speaker 2: very long.
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  Speaker 1: It is not his permanent home like Solomon thought it
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  Speaker 1: was going to be, because as people kick God out
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  Speaker 1: of his home, he leaves.
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  Speaker 2: You know, God does not stay where he's not wanted.
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  Speaker 1: There's a verse in the Book of James that says,
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  Speaker 1: come near to God, and he will come near to you.
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  Speaker 1: God does not stay where he's not wanted. That doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean he doesn't love people or that he abandons people,
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  Speaker 1: but it just means that when people reject God, God
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  Speaker 1: will let them have what they want and he will leave.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what ended up happening. Every single time God
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  Speaker 1: tried to dwell with his people, the people rejected God
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  Speaker 1: and didn't want him there, and so he left the vicinity.
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  Speaker 1: And that, of course was going to happen very soon
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  Speaker 1: in this temple, and God was not going to live
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  Speaker 1: there forever. But you know, Solomon was very, very excited
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  Speaker 1: about this temple and believed that it was going to
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  Speaker 1: be a place of worship where God could live among
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  Speaker 1: his people forever. So the king, after this in verse three,
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  Speaker 1: turns his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: And all the assembly of Israel stood. And so now
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  Speaker 1: Solomon begins his speech and prayer to God. He starts
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  Speaker 1: with the speech. He says, blessed be Yahweh, the God
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David, my father,
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  Speaker 1: and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying, since the
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  Speaker 1: day that I brought my people out of the land
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  Speaker 1: of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the
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  Speaker 1: tribes of Israel to build a house in and that
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  Speaker 1: my name might be there. And I chose no man
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  Speaker 1: to be prince over my people Israel. But now I
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  Speaker 1: have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there, and
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  Speaker 1: I have chosen David to be over my people Israel. So,
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  Speaker 1: as you guys know, David Solomon's dad, really had an
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  Speaker 1: obsession with the temple, really wanted it to be built,
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  Speaker 1: even purchased the land that would be built on, and
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  Speaker 1: he purchased that land in Jerusalem. Now, David had already
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  Speaker 1: chosen Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, mainly because Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: was a very good location in Israel, pretty central, so
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  Speaker 1: it was a good place for politics to be done,
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  Speaker 1: for worship to be done, and so David initially chose Jerusalem. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if God chose Jerusalem because David chose it,
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  Speaker 1: like just out of mercy to David, or if God
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  Speaker 1: had told David previously that David should go to Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: to build the Temple and set up his kingdom there
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  Speaker 1: and the government there. I don't know if God chose
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  Speaker 1: it and told David to go to Jerusalem, or if
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  Speaker 1: David chose it and God chose it because of his
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  Speaker 1: love and mercy for David and for Israel. I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: But regardless, you can definitely tell that God chose Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: like even to this day, it is evident through the
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  Speaker 1: three Abrahamic religions who right now are vying for their
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  Speaker 1: peace of Jerusalem. The Christians want it, the Jews want it,
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  Speaker 1: and the Muslims want it. They're all fighting over Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: because it's a special place, and we know it's a
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  Speaker 1: special place. It is the place where Jesus chose to die.
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  Speaker 1: We know that Jerusalem is special, and so God clearly
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  Speaker 1: did choose Jerusalem to put his name there.
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  Speaker 2: Not to mention.
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  Speaker 1: In the Book of Revelation, it says that after the
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  Speaker 1: old heaven and the old Earth pass away and Jesus
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  Speaker 1: makes a brand new heaven and new Earth, He's going
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  Speaker 1: to make a brand new Jerusalem that's gonna like float
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  Speaker 1: in the sky, or it's gonna come out of the
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  Speaker 1: sky like this big, beautiful jewel. And only certain people
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  Speaker 1: are going to be allowed in the new Jerusalem. Only
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  Speaker 1: people who are sons and daughters of God are going
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  Speaker 1: to be allowed in that city. And it's literally called
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  Speaker 1: the New Jerusalem. And God says that that city is
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  Speaker 1: never going to make him angry ever again, that the
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  Speaker 1: old Jerusalem, you know, this one where Solomon built the temple.
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  Speaker 1: That Jerusalem made God angry every single day, is what
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  Speaker 1: he says in Jeremiah. Since the foundation of Jerusalem, I
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  Speaker 1: have been so ticked off at that city because of
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  Speaker 1: their lack of morals and their constant sin against me
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  Speaker 1: every single day. But someday there is going to be
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  Speaker 1: a new Jerusalem where my name will be and that
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  Speaker 1: city will never make me angry, and the people who
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  Speaker 1: are in it will be righteous who will worship me
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  Speaker 1: truly every single day. Long story short, there's something special
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  Speaker 1: about Jerusalem, and we just know that in our hearts
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  Speaker 1: because God chose Jerusalem. Yahwaeys said to David, my father,
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  Speaker 1: in verse eight, whereas it was in your heart to
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  Speaker 1: build a house for my name, you did well that
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  Speaker 1: it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build
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  Speaker 1: the house. But your son, who will come out of
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  Speaker 1: your body, he shall build the house for my name.
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  Speaker 1: Now Solomon, of course believed himself to be that son.
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  Speaker 1: But we've talked about how David and Solomon may have
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  Speaker 1: misunderstood the prophecy from God. There. God was probably talking
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  Speaker 1: about Jesus, you know, because Jesus was from the line
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  Speaker 1: and lineage of David, and God said that Jesus was
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  Speaker 1: going to build him a house, which that is absolutely true,
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  Speaker 1: because Jesus is and was the foundation of the Church,
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  Speaker 1: and every single Christian, every true believer of Jesus, makes
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  Speaker 1: up a piece of that church. And that's where the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit now lives is in each one of us
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  Speaker 1: who has accepted Jesus as our savior. So the Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit no longer lives in the temple made with human hands,
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  Speaker 1: but lives in each one of us. So things are
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  Speaker 1: different now with the New Testament. But in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit didn't live in people. He lived in
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  Speaker 1: a temple made with human hands. And so that's why
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  Speaker 1: the temple was so special. It was a special place.
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  Speaker 1: But regardless, people were going to corrupt the temple and
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  Speaker 1: cause the Holy Spirit to leave. But for the time being,
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is in the temple, has accepted the temple,
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  Speaker 1: and has placed his name in Jerusalem. Even if David
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  Speaker 1: and Solomon's understanding of the prophecies from God weren't exactly clear,
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  Speaker 1: God still had mercy on David and Solomon, still had
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  Speaker 1: grace and love for them, and chose Jerusalem and the
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  Speaker 1: temple that Solomon built. Then in verse ten, Solomon continues,
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has performed his word that he spoke, for I
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  Speaker 1: have risen up in the place of David and my
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  Speaker 1: father and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised,
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  Speaker 1: and have built the house for the name of Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: the God of Israel. There I have set the ark
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  Speaker 1: in which is God's Covenant, which he made with the
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  Speaker 1: children of Israel. Now here's what's kind of interesting about
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  Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant. When the Ark of the
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  Speaker 1: Covenant was first built five hundred years before this in
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  Speaker 1: the Wilderness, it actually was supposed to hold three things.
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  Speaker 1: It was supposed to hold the Covenant, which was the
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  Speaker 1: Law of God. It was supposed to hold a bowl
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  Speaker 1: of mana. It was also supposed to hold Aaron's butting staff. Okay, now,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys remember what the mana
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  Speaker 1: is and Aaron's butting staff, and I'm not going to
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  Speaker 1: get into those things right now, but there was supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be more items in the Ark of the Covenant
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  Speaker 1: than just the Covenant itself, and that was of course
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  Speaker 1: by God, like God told Moses and Aaron put these
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  Speaker 1: other things in the Ark of the Covenant forever. So
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  Speaker 1: at some point in the ARC's history someone opened it
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  Speaker 1: up and took those things out, And we don't know
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  Speaker 1: who did that. We know the arc was captured for
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  Speaker 1: a little while before David was even born. The Ark
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  Speaker 1: was in Philistine hands for a couple months, but things
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  Speaker 1: did not go well for the Philistines because of the
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  Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant because God did not want the
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  Speaker 1: ark there, and so eventually the Philistines like sent the
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  Speaker 1: ark back because they were getting plagued with like all
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  Speaker 1: of these boils or something, these tumors, and so the
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  Speaker 1: Philistines understood that it was the Ark of the Covenant
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  Speaker 1: causing these issues, so they sent the arc back to Israel.
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  Speaker 1: But there is a possibility that the Philistines actually opened
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  Speaker 1: the arc up and took some of those items out
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  Speaker 1: of the ark, but somehow the Covenant was still in
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  Speaker 1: there was still preserved. And that's essentially what Solomon says
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  Speaker 1: right here. I have set the ark in the temple
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  Speaker 1: in which is God's Covenant. That's it. No other things
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  Speaker 1: inside the arc, just the Covenant. And that was also
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in the previous chapter as well, and I forgot
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  Speaker 1: to talk about that, where only the Law was still
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  Speaker 1: inside the Ark of the Covenant, nothing else was.
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  Speaker 2: Moving down to.
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  Speaker 1: Verse twelve, he stood before he always alter in the
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  Speaker 1: presence of the Assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands.
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  Speaker 1: For Solomon made a bronze platform five cubits long, five
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  Speaker 1: cubits wide, and three cubits high, and set it in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the court. And he stood on it
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  Speaker 1: and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, and spread his hands toward Heaven. Now, this
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  Speaker 1: was the common posture for doing prayer back in the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament. It was not folding your hands the way
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  Speaker 1: we do now and like bowing our heads. It was
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  Speaker 1: actually raising your hands up to Heaven.
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  Speaker 2: And I do have to say, the.
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  Speaker 1: Way we do prayer now is kind of wrong biblically.
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  Speaker 1: There's nowhere in scripture that tells you to fold your
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  Speaker 1: hands to pray. But there are so many verses that
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  Speaker 1: talk about raising your hands to heaven. In fact, I
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  Speaker 1: was just reading one of them in One Timothy. One
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  Speaker 1: Timothy two eight from the NLT version says this, in
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  Speaker 1: every place of worship, I want men to pray with
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  Speaker 1: holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.
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  Speaker 1: And yet we don't do that in the modern day,
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  Speaker 1: and neither do I. Quite honestly, I do not raise
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: my hands up to Heaven while I'm praying.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I just don't. I'm so inclined.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: To interlock my fingers right underneath my chin, like that
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: is just what I do. And yet Scripture tells us
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to raise our hands up to Heaven. I'm not gonna lie.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: I did not research this topic, but if I were
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: to guess why raising your hands to heaven was the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: correct posture, it's because there's something very vulnerable about it,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: and it's.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Also a sign of surrender.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: When you're raising your hands up to God, it's almost
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: like you are giving him whatever is inside your heart.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: And I can tell you honestly that the times when
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I feel the most worshipful, like say in church or something,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: when we're singing songs, my hands they just go right up,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: like it's like I can't control it. The hands just
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: go up. That's because there's something about that posture that
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: is both vulnerable, freeing and also a sign of surrender.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: You know, our posture is very important. My husband often
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: tells me, you know, if I'm feeling down, I will
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: like slunch right over, and my husband will be like,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: if you fix your posture, you might actually feel better,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: like mentally, And so I'll fix my posture, and what
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: do you know, a few minutes later, I actually am
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: feeling a little bit better mentally. So you can change
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: your mindset based upon the posture you are carrying. And
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I think that's why scripture always tells us to pray
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: with our hands reaching up toward heaven, and I mean,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: there's so many psalms that talk about that as well.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: So Solomon takes this posture where he's standing up on
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: this platform and he's got his hands up to Heaven
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: and he is kneeling down, just praying to God very fervently.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: And so here's his prayer. He says, Yahweh, the God
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven
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  Speaker 1: or on earth. You who keep covenant and loving kindness
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: who have kept with your servant, David, my father, that
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and you've fulfilled it with your hand as it is today.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: And so of course Solomon there is talking about the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: entire project of building the temple. God promised it to
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: David that the temple would be built, and now here
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: it is. It has been fulfilled. Now once again, that
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: prophecy was broadly talking about Jesus. But there's something called
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: double prophecies, where a prophecy will come true multiple times,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and a lot of times. The first time it comes true,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: it's like a much smaller iteration of it, if that
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: makes sense. So the prophecy of the temple being built
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: came true with Solomon, but the larger interpretation of that
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: prophecy would be Jesus building the temple, like I talked
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: about earlier, where he made the foundations of the church,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: and like you and I make up the individual members
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of the church. Right, So this prophecy that Solomon says
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: has come true would be one of those double prophecies
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: that we've talked about before. And he continues in verse sixteen,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: for Yeahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant, David,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: my father, that which you've promised him. There shall not
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: fail you, a man in my sight, to sit on
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed
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  Speaker 1: to their way, to walk in my law as you've
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: walked before me. Now, therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: let your word be verified, which you spoke to David,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: your servant. So of course that's talking about God telling David,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: if your sons walk in my laws and follow my ways,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: then they will be blessed forever. I will keep somebody
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: on the throne of Israel forever is what God says.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: But if your.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Sons don't follow my laws and don't keep my ways
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: and abandon me and reject me, then I will reject them.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: God actually told this same prophecy to Solomon directly. Solomon
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: knew this prophecy both from his father David and also
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: straight from God's mouth. However, spoiler alert, Solomon does not
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: keep the ways of God, and God doesn't immediately reject Solomon,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: but later on down the line, as the lineage of
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: David got worse and worse and worse, God did eventually
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: punish Israel for their sins, but that's not for several
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: hundred years after this. But moving forward in verse eighteen,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you, how
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: much less this house which I have built. Yet have
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Yahweh my God. To listen to the cry and to
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the prayer which your servant prays before you, that your
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: eyes may be open toward this house day and night,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: even toward the place where you said that you will
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: put your name. To listen to the prayer which your
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: servant will pray toward this place. That's a really nice
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: prayer because there's a lot of humility in it. Basically
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Solomon saying, you know, God, heaven can't even contain how
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: amazing you are. So this house that I built can't
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: possibly contain how amazing you are. It is so small
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and so little compared to your throne room. But yet God,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: I ask that you accept it anyway, that you accept
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: this gift that I gave you, and that you be
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: here in this house and listen to the prayer of
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: your people. In fact, listen to my prayer when I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: direct it toward your house. Now, that was a common
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: belief back in these days, which was to direct your
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: prayer toward the temple of the deity that you worshiped.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: And generally it's just gobbledegook, because you know, the deities
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: that the people worshiped didn't actually live in the temples
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: because they were fake. They were just idols made of
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: stone or gold or whatever. But in the case of God,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: he was living inside that temple, and so to direct
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: your prayer toward the direction of the temple actually made
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: sense because God's physical presence was there, and the people
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: couldn't go inside the temple at this point in time.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: The priests couldn't even go inside. But the average person
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't even allowed to step foot in the temple. It
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: was only the priests. So it makes a lot of
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: sense actually for the people to direct to their prayers
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: to the Temple of God, because that is where God
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: was physically sitting on earth. You'll see this actually in
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the book of Daniel. Daniel when he was in Babylonian captivity,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: he would open up his window that faced toward Jerusalem
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and he would pray in that direction. And don't get
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: me wrong, they're not directing their prayers at the temple.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: They're not praying to the temple, but they're directing their
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: prayers to who is inside the temple. Then he says
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: in verse twenty one, listen to the petitions of your
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: this place.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, hear from.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Your dwelling place, even from heaven. And when you hear,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: forgive so there Solomon even says, He's like, yes, God,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: your presence is in this temple, but your dwelling place
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: is technically heaven. Because this little temple cannot contain you.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: So whenever anybody prays to your name, please hear them
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: and forgive them. And that's just the first portion of
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: this prayer. It goes on for a lot longer, and
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: we'll talk about that on Wednesday. So I hope to
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: see you guys Wednesday as we discuss the second portion
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: of this very beautiful prayer that Solomon gives. And not
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: to be a negative nancy, but there's one specific problem
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: with the prayer that we will get into on Wednesday. So,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope you guys tune in then six
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: am or whenever you choose to wake up, and also
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow because we'll be in the Book of
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Second Thessalonians. And man, I have just been loving the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Book of Second Thessalonians. If you are not tuning into
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the New Testament side of stuff, you absolutely should because
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: the Book of Second Thessalonians is fire and it talks
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: about fire actually.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Quite a bit in it.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: So I hope you guys tune in tomorrow for an
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: episode from Second Thessalonians where we'll talk more about the
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: second Coming of Jesus. Faithful listeners, have a wonderful rest
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: of your Monday, happy listening, and God bless