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When Heaven Descended | Solomon's Temple Filled with God's Glory (July 22) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

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When Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven
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and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory
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of Hashem filled the house. The Kohanim could not enter
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the house of Hashem, the Temple, for the glory of God
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filled the house of God,
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filled the Temple. What would it have been
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like to be there, to see that?
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To experience that. One day, beloved,
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we will know this. We will see it and we will experience
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it— the glory of God. The temple
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was built as a shadow and as a copy of
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the real temple that is right now in heaven.
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And one day, beloved, we will experience
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that glory. We will see the cherubim the seraphim,
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the Ark. We will see Jesus face
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to face as a bride, and the veil
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is lifted off. Listen in as we
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unpack this today. Welcome to the One Year Audio Bible
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Podcast. Today is July 22nd. Now let's continue
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our journey reading through the entire Bible in one year.
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This week we are reading from the Israel Bible for the Tanakh, or the Old
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Testament, and from the King James for the
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Apostolic Writings, or the New Testament.
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Numbers 27:1-23.
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The daughters of Zelophehad of the Manassite family,
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son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh,
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son of Joseph, came forward. The names of the
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daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Haglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
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They stood before Moses, Eleazar the Kohen,
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the chieftains, and the whole assembly at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,
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and they said, Our father died in the wilderness. He was
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not one of the faction— Korah's faction— which banded
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together against Hashem, but died for his own sin, and he has left
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no sons.
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Let not our father's name be lost to his clan just because
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he had no son. Give us a holding among our father's kinsmen.
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Moses brought their case before Hashem, and Hashem said
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to Moses, The plea of Zelophehad's daughters is
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just. You should give them a hereditary holding among
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their father's kinsmen. Transfer their father's share
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to them. Further, speak to Bnei Israel as follows:
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If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his
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property to his daughter. If he has no daughter,
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you shall assign his property to his brothers. If he
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has no brothers, you shall assign his property to his father's brothers.
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If his father had no brothers, you shall assign his property to
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the nearest relative in his own clan, and he shall inherit it.
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This shall be for the law of procedure for the Israelites,
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in accordance with Hashem's command to Moses.
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Hashem said to Moses, Ascend these heights of Abiram
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and view the land that I have given to Bnei Israel.
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When you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your kin, just as
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your brother Aaron was. For in the wilderness of Zin,
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when the community was contentious, you disobeyed
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my command to uphold my sanctity in their sight by
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means of the water. Those are the waters of Meribah
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Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.
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Moses spoke to Hashem, saying, Let Hashem,
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Source of the Breath of All Flesh,
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appoint someone over the community who shall
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go out before them and come in before them and who shall take them out
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and bring them in so that Hashem's community may not be like
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sheep that have no shepherd. And Hashem answered
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Moses, Single out Joshua son of
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Nun, an inspired man, and lay your hand upon him.
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Have him stand before Eleazar the Kohen and before the whole
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community and commission him in their
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sight. Invest him with some of your authority so
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that the whole Israelite community may obey.
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But he shall present himself to Eleazar the Kohen, who shall on
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his behalf seek the decision of the Urim before
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Hashem. By such instruction they shall go
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out, and by such instruction they shall come in,
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he and all the Israelites, the whole community.
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Moses did as Hashem commanded him. He took Joshua
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and had him stand before Eleazar the Kohen and
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before the whole community. He laid his hands upon
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him and commissioned him, as Hashem had spoken through
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Moses.
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2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10.
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Then standing before the altar of Hashem in front of the whole congregation
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of Israel, he spread forth his hands. Solomon had made
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a bronze platform and placed it in the midst of the great court.
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It was 5 emote long and 5 emote wide and 3 emote
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high. He stood on it. Then,
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kneeling in front of the whole congregation of Israel, he spread forth his
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hands to heaven and said, O God of Israel,
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there is no God like You in the heavens and on the earth,
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You who steadfastly maintain the covenant with Your servants who
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walk before You with all their hearts, You who have
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kept the promises You made to Your servant,
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my father David. You made a promise and have fulfilled
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it, as is now the case. And now,
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O God of Israel, keep that promise that You made to Your servant,
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my father David. You shall never lack a
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descendant in my sight sitting on the throne of Israel,
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if only Your children will look to their way and walk
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in the path of My teachings, as you have walked before
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Me. Now therefore, O God of Israel, Let the
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promise that You made to Your servant, my father David, be confirmed.
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Does Hashem really dwell with man on earth?
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Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You,
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how much less this house that I have built.
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Yet turn, Hashem my God, to the prayer and supplication
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of Your servant, and hear the cry and the prayer that
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that Your servant offers to You. May Your eyes be open
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day and night toward this house,
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toward the place where You have resolved to make Your name abide.
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May You heed the prayers that Your servant offers toward this place,
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and when You hear the supplications that Your servant and Your people
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Israel offer toward this place, give heed
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in Your heavenly abode. Give heed and pardon.
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If a man commits an offense against his fellow and an oath
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is exacted from him, causing him to utter an imprecation against
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himself, and he comes with this imprecation before Your altar in
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this house, may You hear in heaven and
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take action to judge Your servants, requiting him who
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is in the wrong by bringing down the punishment of his conduct
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on his head, vindicating him who is in the right by rewarding
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him according to his righteousness. Should Your people Israel
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be defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against
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You, and then once again acknowledge Your name and offer prayer and supplication
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to You in this house, may You hear in
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heaven and pardon the sin of Your people Israel and
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restore them to the land that You gave to them and to
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their fathers. Should the heavens be shut up and there be no
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rain because they have sinned against You,
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and then they pray toward this place and acknowledge Your name and repent
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of their sins because You humbled them, may You hear in
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heaven and pardon the sin of Your servants,
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Your people Israel, when You have shown them the proper
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way in which they are to walk. And send down rain upon
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the land that you gave to your people as
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their inheritance. So too,
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if there is a famine in the land, if there is pestilence,
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blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars,
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or if an enemy oppresses them in any of the settlements of
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their land, in any plague and in any disease, any prayer
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or supplication offered by any person among all your people Israel,
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each of whom knows his affliction and his pain,
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when he spreads forth his hands toward this house,
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may you hear in your heavenly abode and pardon,
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deal with each man according to his ways as you know
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his heart to be, for you alone know the hearts of
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all men, so that they may revere you
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all the days that they live on the land that you gave to
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our fathers. Or if a foreigner who is not
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of your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of Your
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great Name, Your mighty hand, and Your outstretched arm,
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if he comes to pray toward this house, may You hear in
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Your heavenly abode and grant whatever the foreigner appeals to You for.
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Thus, all the peoples of the earth will know Your Name
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and revere You, as does Your people Israel, and they
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will recognize that Your Name is attached to this house that I
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have built. When Your people take the field against their
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enemies in a campaign on which You send them, and they pray
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to You in the direction of the city which You have chosen and the house
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which I have built to Your name, may You hear in heaven
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their prayer and supplication and uphold their cause.
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When they sin against You, for there is no person who does
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not sin, and You are angry with them and deliver
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them to the enemy and their captors carry them off to an enemy land,
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near or far, and they take it to heart in the land to
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which they have been carried off and repent and make supplication
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to You in the land of their captivity, saying, we have sinned,
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we have acted perversely, and we have acted wickedly.
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And they turn back to You with all their heart and soul in
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the land of their captivity where they were carried off and
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pray in the direction of their land which You gave to their fathers and
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the city which You have chosen and toward the house which I have built for
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name. May You hear their prayer and supplication
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in Your heavenly abode, uphold their cause, and pardon Your
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people who have sinned against You. Now, my Hashem,
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may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive
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to prayer from this place. And now advance,
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O Hashem, to Your resting place, You and Your mighty Aaron,
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Your Kohanim, O Hashem, are clothed in triumph.
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Your loyal ones will rejoice in Your goodness.
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O Hashem, do not reject Your Anointed One.
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Remember the loyalty of Your servant David.
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When Solomon finished praying, fire descended
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from heaven and consumed the burnt offering
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and the sacrifices. And the Glory of Hashem filled the
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House. The Kohanim could not enter the House of Hashem,
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for the Glory of Hashem filled the House of
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Hashem. All the Israelites witnessed the
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descent of the fire and the Glory of Hashem on the House. They knelt
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with their faces to the ground and prostrated themselves praising Hashem,
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for He is good. For His steadfast love is eternal.
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Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Hashem.
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King Solomon offered as sacrifices 22,000
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oxen and 120,000 sheep.
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Thus the king and all the people dedicated the House of Hashem.
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The Kohanim stood at their watches, the Levi'im
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with the instruments for Hashem's music, that King David had
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made to praise Hashem, for His steadfast love is eternal,
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by means of the Psalms of David that they knew.
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The Kohanim opposite them blew trumpets while all Israel
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were standing. Solomon consecrated the center of the
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court in front of the House of Hashem, because he presented there the
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burnt offerings and the fat parts of the offerings of well-being.
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Since the bronze altar that Solomon had made was
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not able to hold the burnt offerings, the male offerings,
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and the fat parts. At that time Solomon kept
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the feast for 7 days, all Israel with
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him, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.
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On the 8th day they held a solemn gathering. They observed the dedication
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of the altar 7 days and the feast, 7 days.
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On the 23rd day of the 7th month, he dismissed
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the people to their homes, rejoicing and in good spirits
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over the goodness that Hashem had shown to David and Solomon and his
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people Israel.
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Romans 7:14-8:8.
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For we know that the law is spiritual, but I, Paul, am carnal,
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sold under sin. For that which I do I
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allow not. For what I would, that I do not;
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but what I hate, that I do. If then
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I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law,
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that it is good. Now then it is no more I
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that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
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For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh,
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dwells no good thing: for to will is present with
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me, But how to perform that which is good I find not.
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For the good which that I would do, I do not do, but the
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evil which I would not, that I do.
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Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
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that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
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I find then a law, that when I would do good,
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evil is present with me. For I delight
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in the law of God after the inward man,
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but I see another law in my members warring against
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the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law
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of sin which is in my members.
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O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
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body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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So then With the mind I myself serve the law of
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God, but with the flesh the law of
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sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
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to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
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flesh, but after the Spirit.
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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has
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made me free from the law of sin.
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And death. For what the Law could not do,
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in that it was weak through the flesh,
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God sending His own Son in the likeness of
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sinful flesh, and for sin condemned
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sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law
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might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
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but after the Spirit. For they that are after the
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flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
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but they that are after the Spirit the things of the
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Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death,
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but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
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Because the carnal mind is enmity against God,
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for it is not subject to the law of God,
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neither indeed can be. So then they that are in
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the flesh cannot please God.
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Psalm 18:1-15.
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I will love You, O Lord, my Strength. The Lord is my Rock and
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my Fortress and my Deliverer, my God,
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my Strength in whom I will trust, my Buckler and the Horn
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of my Salvation and my High Tower. I will call upon
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the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be
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saved from my enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me,
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and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows
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of hell compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me.
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In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God.
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He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry
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came before him even into his ears.
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Then the earth shook, and trembled; the foundations
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also of the hills moved and were shaken because He
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was wroth. There went up a smoke out of His nostrils
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and fire out of His mouth devoured; coals were
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kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down and
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darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub
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and did fly, yes, He did fly under the wings of the
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wind. He made darkness his secret place,
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his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds
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of the skies. At the brightness that was before him
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his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals
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of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
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and the Highest gave his voice,
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hailstones and coals of fire. Yes,
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he sent out his arrows and scattered them. And He shot
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out lightnings and discomfited them. Then the
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channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the
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world were discovered at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the
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blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
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Proverbs 19:24-25.
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A slothful man hides his hand in his bosom,
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and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.
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Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware, and reprove
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one that has understanding, and he will understand knowledge.
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I want to speak to you today from our reading from 2 Chronicles 6
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through 8, and we've just completed the previous
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chapters where there's a detailed description of everything
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about the temple and the dimensions, the width, the height,
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the outer courtyard, the Holy Place, the Most Holy Place,
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all of the items that go inside, the Ark of the
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Covenant in the Most Holy Place. And as we read
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all of that, I want to remind you that it is
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a copy of a real temple in
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heaven. That when the design for the
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wilderness tabernacle was given to Moses and they
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built the wilderness tabernacle, which was basically a tent,
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it was a copy of the real temple in heaven.
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And the plans, the design for this temple that
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David received from God and then Solomon,
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his son, built and constructed— again, it's a shadow.
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It's a copy of the real Temple in heaven.
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Now I want to go back to chapter 5,
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verses 13 and 14,
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where it is written, the trumpeters and the singers joined in unison to praise and
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extol Hashem. And as the sound of the trumpets and cymbals
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and other musical instruments and the praise of Hashem,
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for He is good, for His steadfast love is eternal,
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grew louder, the house, the house of Hashem,
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the temple was filled with a cloud.
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The Kohanim could not stand to perform the service because of
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the cloud where the glory of Hashem filled
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the house of Hashem.
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And so the presence, the power, and the glory of the Lord
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God Almighty displaying as a cloud,
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they lost all their strength in their legs and they could not stand in the
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presence of God. Now we go to
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the end of Solomon's prayer of dedication,
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and he prays a very long detailed prayer about
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the temple and asking that God would hear the prayers of the people
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of Israel, whether they're there in the land or even if they're
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far away, if they've been exiled to another nation, that whenever they would cry
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out and petition the Lord and face towards the temple in Jerusalem,
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he pleaded that God would hear the prayers and answer.
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And in chapter 7, verses 1 and 2, it is written,
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when Solomon finished praying, fire descended from
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heaven and consumed the burnt offering
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and the sacrifices, and the glory of Hashem filled
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the house. The Kohanim could not enter the house
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of Hashem, for the glory of Hashem filled
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the house of Hashem.
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And all the Israelites witnessed the descent of the fire and the
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glory of Hashem on the house. They knelt with their
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faces to the ground and prostrated themselves, praising Hashem
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For He is good; His steadfast love
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is eternal.
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What would it have been like to have been there on that
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day, to experience that, to see that,
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to see the glory cloud descend from heaven, to see the fire
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come down and consume the sacrifice on the altar and the
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glory fill up the temple?
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Sadly, the temple was destroyed not
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once but twice. Once in
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586 BC under Nebuchadnezzar's invading army,
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and again in 70 AD under the Roman general
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Titus of the Romans as they destroyed the temple.
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But yet there is hope.
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There is a sense of this
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glory that we can know.
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And in Colossians,
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it is written, the mystery— Colossians
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chapter 1, verse 26— the mystery which has been
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hidden from ages and from generations,
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but now has been revealed To
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His saints. To them God willed to make known
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what are the riches of the glory of this mystery
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among the Gentiles. What is this mystery?
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Which is Christ in you, the hope
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of glory. Our body is
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like a temple. It's a container. It's a
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shell. And when we are born again, when we
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repent of our sins and we ask Christ to come in and to be the
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Lord of our life, His life is
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inside of us. His Holy Spirit dwells within us.
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And Christ Jesus, He is the
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hope of glory. And if we
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are walking in step with Him and we have not grieved Him,
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if we are not allowing the flesh and the lust
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and the sin to rule and reign over us, but instead if we have died
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to our flesh and we have repented of our sin and we're letting
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His Holy Spirit be the leader and be in charge and
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we're not grieving the Holy Spirit, then the glory of
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Christ dwells within us.
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Even Moses had some of this glory when
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he would meet with God at the tent of meeting.
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And Moses was called a friend of God.
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He was very, very close to the Lord, and the Lord conversed
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with him and spoke with him. And after spending time with
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the Lord, his face would glow and radiate,
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and the people were afraid. They were afraid of having that kind of
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intimacy with the Lord. So Moses covered his face with
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a veil, but we can see Christ
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by the Spirit in faith. We can behold Him without
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that veil covering our mind and our heart.
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We can come before Him unashamed, totally transparent,
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totally vulnerable, totally real with Him.
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He knows us intimately. He's thoroughly acquainted with our ways.
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And He loves us. And that is what they were saying when the glory
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cloud came down into the temple— the everlasting
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love of the Lord.
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So Father, we thank You.
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We thank You for Your Son Jesus. We thank You
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that He can abide and dwell within us.
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And Father, I pray that the glory of Christ would shine in
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our hearts, that the love of Christ would abound
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and abound yet still more and overflow,
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that we could walk in the love of Christ towards all others
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around us, that we can shine His love
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in tangible, practical ways to the people in our lives.
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We thank you for the hope of glory that there's a day coming,
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Jesus, when you will return. You will catch
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us up in the clouds, and so we will be with you forever.
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We thank you for the coming glory of Christ,
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the coming glory of being with him in eternity
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in heaven. And we thank you that we can be a
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small little tabernacle a tent where
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the glory of Christ dwells within us.
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In Jesus' name we pray.