2 CHRONICLES 7 DEDICATED TO GOD2008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Chronicles 7 Dedicated To God

As we're looking at 2 Chronicles chapter 7 verses 1 through 3, it's quite an amazing story that is taking place. Solomon is king of Israel at this time. If you remember, he is the son of David who was a great king known as a man after God's own heart and he did much in bringing people to right relationship with God and to worship of God.

David had it in his heart to build a temple for God instead of the tabernacle that was temporary and was made out of cloth and skin. He wanted something established and something permanent and something really nice for God. And so he desired to build a temple, but you know how it goes. God did not allow him to build the temple. Instead, he told him that Solomon would be the one to build the temple.

And as we pick up in chapter 7 of 2 Chronicles, Solomon has just finished the building of the temple.

There in chapter 6, he's been going through a lengthy prayer of dedication for the temple. And it's completed now. It's like the inaugural ceremony that now they're going to begin to use the temple for what it was designed for. They're going to begin to offer sacrifices there. They're going to begin to worship the Lord there and fulfill all of the things that God had called them to do.

And I would encourage you and challenge you to try to place yourself in this passage. It's a little bit difficult even to imagine the things that is talked about here. First of all, in verse 1 it tells us that as he finished praying, that fire came down from heaven and consumed the altar.

There's several times in the scriptures that we read about such accounts, but I doubt that any of you have ever witnessed such a feat. You've probably not been there for such an event when fire came from heaven to consume the altar and consume the sacrifice that was being offered. Picture for just a moment what that would be like for those who are in Israel gathered together for the dedication of the temple as they're beginning to use it to worship God or to meet God.

Now as they come, God responds. He answers their prayer with something amazing and significant, fire coming down from heaven. But not only that, it goes on to tell us there in verse 1 and 2 that the presence of God came down and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And it filled the temple so much so that the priest could not even enter it. Now I don't know what that would look like, but I would have loved to have been there to see that.

What does it look like when the glory of God comes down and fills the temple in such a way that a person cannot even enter into the temple? It was a glorious day, a magnificent event, an incredible experience there for the children of Israel. But as we look at this event and the dedication of the temple and what followed afterwards, this morning I want to use those things to challenge both me and you.

Because the scriptures tell us in the New Testament that now under the new covenant, we are the temple of God. You as an individual are the temple of God and God dwells in you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. And just as this temple was dedicated to God and these things followed, in the same way God desires for us to be dedicated to him as his temples and then he will work miraculously for

Within us and in our lives. There's four things that I see here with the temple. First of all, it was dedicated to the Lord. Second, it was filled by the glory of God. Third, it was consumed by God.

And fourth, the people worshipped God as a result. And these four things apply to us as well because, as Paul tells us later, we are the temple of God. And I'll be referring back to that many times throughout the scripture. But let's look at the first point. First of all, the temple was dedicated to the Lord. Look at verse 1. When Solomon had finished praying. What did Solomon finish praying?

Well, that was chapter 6, and we'll get into it a little bit, just take a sneak, quick peek at it a little bit later, but chapter 6 is Solomon's dedication prayer. He's dedicating the temple to the Lord. He's dedicating that it's to be used for God, and that he's asking God for him to put his name there, just as he promised. He's asking God for him to put his presence there, even though the heaven of heavens can't contain him.

Solomon acknowledges, Lord, would you put your name here and would you meet your people here? And when we offer prayers to you at this temple, Lord, would you hear those prayers that are offered? He's offering and dedicating the temple to God. And when he finished praying, when he finished this dedication, is when all of those things took place. It was his dedication prayer for the temple. The word dedicated, dedicated,

is something that's important for you and I to be. We are to be dedicated to God, just as the temple was dedicated to the Lord. The word dedicated can mean wholehearted devotion, but it can also mean intended for only one purpose. It's designed to carry out one task, or it's set aside for a specific purpose. And this is exactly what the temple of God is.

was. It was dedicated. It was completely set apart for a specific purpose. And that purpose was, it was a place for people to meet with God. The whole point of the temple was so that people could come to worship God, to meet with God, to walk in relationship with God. The temple was not meant to be a money-making scheme.

Although that's what some of the Jewish leaders later turned it into. You remember in Matthew chapter 21, Jesus comes in and they're selling there in the courtyard and changing money at ridiculous rates and selling sheep and lambs and things at a super high cost and making a profit on the people. And Jesus drives them out and says, my house is to be a house of prayer. It's supposed to be dedicated to the Lord.

only for the things of God and not for making money. It's not set up to be, well, you know, come see where God lives and we'll charge you at the door and you have an entrance fee and we'll make some money as you get to see where God lives. No, it was not to be something for making money. It was not to be used to host big parties. You know, hey, we have this big hall.

We call it the temple and, you know, if you need to rent it out, you know, you can have your quinceanera there or something and just, you know, have a good time there. It wasn't meant for gatherings of that sort or of any other sort. The only purpose for the temple was for the worship of God, for people to meet with God. It was dedicated to God, to be used by Him as a means of relationship with His people. It was to be used by Him to bring people to Him, to proclaim His name to the rest of the world.

Understand that God cares more about people than anything else. That's His great concern. That's what He is passionate about. He's passionate about, He's concerned for people. You know, He's not worried about things and kingdoms here on this earth. He's not so concerned about who will be the next president. He's concerned about that person who will be the president.

He's not concerned about these things that take place or these things that happen. He's not seeking to establish a kingdom on this earth. Not yet anyways. No, his concern, what he's passionate about is people. He loves every person and he desires for them to have relationship with him. And the temple was to be dedicated to that, that people would be able to come and have relationship with God.

And in the same way, you and I are the temple of God. We're to be dedicated to the Lord with His passion that we're to be concerned and passionate about the people around us. That should be our biggest concern. Not what career we go into or what kingdoms we establish or what happens here or what happens there. Our biggest passion and concern, we should follow suit with the Lord as we're dedicated to the Lord. We need to be concerned more importantly about God.

People having a relationship with God. In 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16, the Apostle Paul says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? He asked the question, and I think it's a good question because sometimes we don't know and sometimes we forget. Don't you know? Don't you understand? You are the temple of God. God dwells within you.

He'll say something similar again in 1 Corinthians 6, a few chapters later. Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? Once the temple was dedicated to the Lord, it was not the people's any longer. It wasn't Solomon's temple, but it was God's. It was given to him. It was dedicated to him to be used by him for his glory, for his purposes. And in the same way, don't you know you're not your own?

But you belong to God. You are the temple of God. And the Spirit of God dwells within you. Your body, you are to be dedicated to God. You're to be wholly devoted, 100% committed, set aside intended for only one purpose. And what is that one purpose? Again, what is God most concerned about? People. The reason why He keeps us here is

When a person becomes a Christian, they're not immediately raptured into heaven. Why not? Well, because God loves people. And He keeps us around because as His temple, we're to be dedicated to Him in such a way that people would be able to, by our witness and by coming to us, perhaps, would be able to be led into right relationship with God.

We're here. Our purpose is to represent God, to act on His behalf, to proclaim His name and His love to the world around us. I like the way the Apostle Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 5.9. He says, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to Him, that is to God. Paul says, look, we're going to stand before Him one day. We're going to be judged according to our works.

And therefore, we make it our aim. This is our goal. Whether we're here on this earth or in eternity with Him, our goal, our aim is to be pleasing to Him, to be well-pleasing to Him. And I would ask you this morning, have you made that your aim? That you would be well-pleasing to Him? Whether you're in this life or in eternity. Are you well-pleasing to God? Have you dedicated yourself to God? Maybe you're somewhat like me in that when you first...

became a Christian, you did this. You committed your life to Christ. You dedicated yourself to God. You said, Lord, you can have my life, whatever I am, whatever you want to do, Lord, your will be done. But as life goes on, you know how it is. Sometimes we get distracted. Sometimes our life becomes cluttered. There begins to pile up some junk in our life that should not be there. And well, there needs to be a rededication of ourselves to the Lord.

And so maybe you've committed your life to Christ. And maybe you've done this many times. But I would ask you again right now, as you walk in this morning, is it your aim to be well-pleasing to God? Are you dedicated to the Lord? Much like our lives, the temple there in the Old Testament became defiled over the years. After Solomon was many different kings. And some were good kings and many were bad kings.

The bad kings often would distract people from the worship of God by offering other gods for them to worship. Many kings would prevent people from coming to worship God and they would board up the temple so that they could not go there to worship. Some kings would take false gods, idols, and place them in the middle of the temple so that when people came to worship, it was to worship those idols instead of the true and living God.

Later on in its history, the temple would begin to start falling apart because of neglect. People weren't concerned about the house of the Lord or the things of God anymore. And then every once in a while, a good king would come to power.

And he would begin to clean out the temple and repair it. You might remember stories like Josiah and Hezekiah. Those who were good kings and they restored people to the right worship of God and they encouraged people to come to the temple and they cleaned it out and dedicated it to the Lord. But as Israel's history progressed, it came to a point where the people were so rebellious to God that he allowed them to be conquered, to be taken captive to Babylon and

And at that time, the temple was completely destroyed. There was only rubble left. It was completely leveled. But by the grace of God, 70 years later, they were able to rebuild the temple and dedicate it to the Lord once again. We find that in Ezra chapter 6. And there in Ezra chapter 6, as they finish the temple, they do just like Solomon did. They finish it and they pray to God and they dedicate it to God. They set it aside for His purposes, for His plans.

But as they rebuilt the temple and dedicated it to God, even then they began using the temple for basically some plain old storage. Not only that, but they allowed an ungodly person, Tobias, to live in the temple. And so when Nehemiah came on the scene, he came back from his journey and he found all this out and he saw what was taking place.

And he had to clean house again. He had to clean out all the junk that had accumulated. He had to kick out this ungodly guy, Tobias, and not allow him to live in the temple any longer. And I share all that to say, aren't you glad that God allows rededications?

Aren't you glad that we have this example here in the Old Testament of the temple? Now we are called the temple of God and the temple would later become defiled but then it would be cleaned out and they would get their hearts right and God would meet them there and continue the relationship with them there. And even when it was completely wiped down and destroyed, by His grace He allowed them to rebuild and rededicate it to Him.

And in the same way, you and I, we go through life and sometimes we get defiled and we get caught up in things and we start worshipping false gods and other things take the place of God in our lives.

Sometimes we're just completely destroyed. Our spiritual walk is just obliterated. It's gone because we've gone so far from the things of God. And yet, as you listen to this, as you hear this, as you are here this morning, God allows rededications. He allows U-turns. He encourages them, in fact, and He says, look,

I want you to give yourself to me. I know that you've messed up many of times and I know that you've blown it over and over and over again. I know that you've made a mess of your life, but I love you and I want you to dedicate yourself again to me. Do you need to rededicate yourself to God today? Have you brought false gods into the temple, to his temple, to your life? And that other things take the place of God, are higher priority?

Then God in your life. Or as your spiritual life fallen into disrepair from neglect. You've not really been following the things of God. Or spending time with God. And the shingles are starting to fall off. The doorway is a little bit crooked. And your spiritual life is, well, it's messed up. You're having troubles. There's difficulties. You're stumbling. Has your walk fallen into disrepair? Or perhaps has it been completely destroyed? Listen, God allows...

I would even say that he requires rededications. Aren't you glad that God didn't just completely write off the temple the first time they defiled it? One bad king, that's it. No more. Never again will I meet you here in this place. Never again will I have a relationship with you right here. Never again will you come worship me here. God didn't do that. He was so gracious and merciful. And as people came back to him and they cleaned out the temple and got things right, he welcomed and he said, I'll meet with you.

I'll dwell with you. I'll walk with you. It's what he desires, relationship with us. And in the same way, yeah, we blow it, but God doesn't write us off afterwards. Ah, you blew it, forget it. I'm never going to have relationship with you again. No, God doesn't. He says, look, rededicate yourself. Commit yourself to me and I'll be faithful to complete the work that I began in you. Today is a day that God desires for you to be dedicated to him. Whether it's your first time or a hundredth time,

God says, give yourself to me completely, wholeheartedly. Set yourself apart to be used for one purpose, for my purpose, for my will, and not your will to be done. So this morning, as we look at the example here of Solomon and the work in the temple, first of all, we see that we need to dedicate ourselves to God. We need to give ourselves completely and wholeheartedly to him.

And then as we do, then there's some results that will take place. There's some things that will happen as we dedicate ourselves to God. Just as when Solomon dedicated the temple to God, he responded and there were some things that took place. And the first thing that will happen when a person dedicates themselves to God is that he comes and fills them.

The prayer of dedication is a prayer that God receives. And He proves it here in chapter 7, verse 1 by saying, God said, essentially, look, I received your prayer. I heard you. I will put my name here. I will do as you asked. I will take heed to the prayers that are made here in this place.

And he agreed to it. He recognized it. He stated that he received this prayer in this temple and he was going to meet with his people there by bringing fire down from heaven to consume the burnt offering. This was God's way of responding to Solomon's prayer. He was saying, I've heard you and I received this dedication. And in the same way, God will receive anyone who dedicates themselves to him. There's no one that God won't receive.

Whether young or old, whether really good or really bad, with a dark past or no past at all, God will receive anyone who dedicates themselves to Him. And He answers by fire. It's interesting to me that John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3 stated to the crowds and to you and I, I baptize with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. Speaking of Jesus.

He goes on to say, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Remember in Acts chapter 2, as the disciples were gathered together in the upper room, for the first time the Holy Spirit came upon them. They were baptized in the Holy Spirit and it says, There appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and one sat upon each of them. They were baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.

With fire. When you offer your body, your life, as a living sacrifice, Romans 12.1, fire from heaven consumes the sacrifice in answer to your prayer. And God will baptize you, fill you with His Holy Spirit. And it goes on to say in verse 1 there, "...and the glory of the Lord filled the temple." The result was fire came down and the glory of God filled the temple.

Now in Solomon's prayer, he recognized the heaven of heavens can't contain you. But Lord, you promised. You said you would put your name here and you would meet your people here. You promised, Lord, to put your presence here. And here God is being faithful to his promise. The temple filled with the glory of God. Again, in the same way, in a very real way, more real than sometimes we realize, I think, God has promised to put his presence in us.

He's promised to dwell in you. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16, Paul says, For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Here's what God said. Here's God's promise. For those who are dedicated to him, I will dwell in them.

The Christian life is not about a religious activity or rituals that we take place, but it's about a real relationship with God in that God dwells within us, in that God has relationship with us. He walks among us and He is our God and we're His people. It's about that intimate relationship that God desires with each one of us. And just as the glory of God filled the temple, God says, for those who are dedicated to Me...

I will fill them. I will dwell in them, but also baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And to what extent does the Holy Spirit fill us? You might ask, you know, is my Holy Spirit glass half empty or half full? We see the extent here in verse 2 as we look on. It says, And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. Here's point number 3. Consumed. First it's dedicated, then it's filled. Consumed.

that it's consumed. It's not just filled a little bit, again, half empty or half full, but it's filled beyond capacity. It was filled to such an extent that the priest could not enter the house of the Lord because of the glory of the Lord that had filled the house. Now again, for me, this is tough to imagine. What did that look like? And how was it that they weren't able to enter in? When it says they could not enter, it means that they did not have power. They did not have the strength or the ability to enter.

They were unable. It wasn't that they chose not to or that they were fearful. They were literally unable to enter because of the glory of the Lord that filled the house of God. And this speaks something very important to me. Something we hear a lot. When a person says, you know, I tried God or I tried religion and that just did not work for me. You cannot just try God. I remember one guy who is

saying, you know, I've been dealing with drugs and struggling with this and trying to quit. And I tried God and it just didn't work for me. And so now he's off trying these other things. We hear that all the time. All kinds of different applications. But it makes me ask, you did this? You dedicated your life to God. You were baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire. And you were filled to capacity with the Holy Spirit.

With the indwelling of God. You did that. You were filled. You were consumed. And it did not work for you? No. The person who says that did not. They did not dedicate themselves to God. They were not consumed by God. Last week, after the pastor's conference, a bunch of us were on the way back into town and we stopped by a Japanese restaurant and somehow Pastor Tom convinced me to try some sushi. I'd never had sushi before. I tried, you know, California rolls and I didn't like them, but

Here he sits on my plate, a big old piece of raw tuna with some rice underneath it. I was freaked out, you know, I didn't want to try it, but Tom has a way that he can convince anybody to do anything. And so what I wanted to do, this is what I do when I'm trying something new, I take a tiny little bite. Actually, first I smell it first to see kind of how that takes, and then I take a tiny bite.

So I told Tom, I'm just going to take a tiny bite. I'm just going to cut it and just take a little tiny bite and just see how that goes. And he says, no, you can't do that. You got to just take it and put the whole thing in your mouth all at once. And I made it. I got through it. I found out I don't like soy sauce all that much, but the fish and the rice is okay by itself. But you can't just take a nibble, he said. You got to eat the whole thing in the same way. You can't just...

Try God, just kind of take a nibble and experience the fullness of what He wants for you. You can't experience this consuming, filling of God and His Holy Spirit by just kind of dabbling or trying a little bit of a taste. The way that you experience the fullness of God's power, if you want to overcome those things, if you want to get through those things, if you want the power of God to help you, the way that you overcome is...

By dedicating yourself to God. It needs to be a wholehearted devotion, completely giving of yourself to God for His glory, for His will, and not for your own. And you will not experience the power of God until you do that. We need to dedicate ourselves to God. If you just try God, then you miss out on the power that He gives to live the life. You cannot live the Christian life without the power of God.

To try God, I equate it to having a one-night stand and saying, I tried marriage and it didn't work. No, it's got to be a lifelong commitment, a wholehearted devotion. When a life is dedicated to God, it is filled by God until it is consumed by God. The power of God is manifest in the life that's dedicated to Him. Now in the temple, the common person could not go into the temple of God. Only the priests could go into the temple of God. And yet...

By the grace of God, through the new covenant, because of what Jesus Christ died upon the cross for us, the common person, you and I, become the temple of God. And God's promise is, I will dwell in you. Only the priests who were set apart could go into the temple, and yet at this time, even the priests could not go into the temple. Even those who were sanctified and set apart specifically for that purpose, they could not enter into the temple of God when it was consumed in this way.

speaks to me something very important. And that is that, well, I heard recently, Pastor Damien Kyle was sharing that it takes a passion to conquer a passion. As Christians, we struggle with sin. We have those earthly and fleshly passions. But how do we conquer them? How do we overcome those? He went on to share something that I thought was a little bit funny, and perhaps you'll enjoy it. He said something like this.

How do we overcome those passions? How do we overcome those sins that haunt us, that chase us down? How do we overcome them? Do we just say no? Is that how it is, to know it's sin and just say no? He said, we tried that with drugs back in the 80s. The just say no campaign, and it was everywhere. And he said, look how effective it was. You can hardly find drugs anywhere here in America. Didn't work, right? It wasn't effective.

knowing that it's sin, that doesn't really help us. We do things that we know are wrong all the time, right? So how do we overcome? How do we conquer those fleshly desires? Paul said, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Be filled, be consumed with the Holy Spirit. And

The sinful nature, even the priests who are set aside your sanctified flesh, it cannot even enter the temple of God. The flesh will have no place. It will not be able to enter. It will not have power to enter. You want to be set free from the power of sin? Be consumed by God and it will not have power. It will not be able to enter the temple of God. You. Yes, we will fall. We will stumble. We always will. But it will not be able to come in and have power over you any longer. Amen.

Because you're consumed by God. The flesh could not enter. Even though it was the priest and it was the sanctified, set apart flesh, the flesh could not enter. Only the things of God were able to be within the temple when it was consumed by God. I don't know about you, but I want my life to be consumed by God in that way so that the things of the flesh cannot come in and cannot set up camp and cannot have power over my life any longer.

Well, when the temple was dedicated to God and filled by God and consumed by the Lord, the result was that people worshipped God. Look at verse 3. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshipped and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever. In response to this display of power,

and the presence of God, people bowed down to worship and praise God with this statement, for He is good and for His mercy endures forever. They focused on the mercy and goodness of God. Now, I don't know about you, but I think I would have been pretty freaked out if I was there, gathered with everybody before the temple, Solomon prays this prayer, and all of a sudden, fire from heaven comes down. Boom!

consumes the sacrifice on the altar. And the glory of the Lord comes inside the temple in such a way that the priest couldn't enter it. I would have been running. That God is scary. He is powerful. But the people's response is interesting because what they said was, He's good. His mercy endures forever. It's kind of like they realize, Whoa, God can do that? And He hasn't wiped us out? He hasn't done that to me? Just wipe me off the face of the earth? God's good. He's merciful.

And so they bowed down and worshipped God. A life dedicated to God that's filled with the Holy Spirit and consumed by God is a living testimony to the goodness and mercy of God. They realized God is working in our midst. He is merciful and He is good to us.

And when you and I are dedicated to God as a living testimony of God, it will cause people to testify of God's goodness and mercy as they see God transforming a life and working in a life and they go, I can't believe what God is doing in that person. I knew that person. I went to school with that person. I've worked with that person for many. Look what God is doing. It testifies of His goodness and of His mercy. It's a testimony really that if God can do that with him,

If God can do that with Jerry, if God can do that with Chico, if God can do that with Eddie, well, God could do it in my life. He's good and He's merciful. Jesus, as He was about to ascend to the Father, gave His disciples and you and I the great commission to go into all the world and make disciples. It's a big project, a lot to be done. Jesus didn't say, go get started on it right away. It was more than can be done in your lifetime.

He said, here's your job, here's your task. Wait. Wait for the promise of God. Wait for the Holy Spirit. And in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, he says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Jesus says, okay, you have this task here. You go to make disciples, but wait.

Wait, because the power of the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you. You're going to be filled and consumed by God. And you shall be witnesses to me. You're going to testify of me. People around are going to see me in your life and they're going to testify of my goodness and my mercy. In Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. God desires for you to be dedicated to him.

that He could fill you with His Holy Spirit, that you would be consumed by Him, that the people around you would testify, would say, God is good and His mercy endures forever. And it's not just about what you say. We talk about, you know, you shall be witnesses to me and we think about that and often we think of someone standing on the street corner and sharing the gospel and handing out tracts or, you know, with a bullhorn shouting the gospel at the cars that drive by.

But what Jesus is talking about here is when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall be witnesses. When God is working in your life, you're a witness. And it's not always by what you say. It's by what God is doing in your life and the life that you live. And so God wants to use you. Again, his biggest concern, his main priority is people. He loves people. And he has you here. He's kept you here because he wants to use you to reach out to people and to bring people to right relationship with him.

And so he desires for us to be dedicated to him completely, wholeheartedly, set aside for one purpose so that he would fill us completely and consume us, that we might be able to be a witness, to be a witness, not just to witness. But people will see God working in our lives and testify of his goodness and his mercy. Again, this morning, I would ask you, are you dedicated to God right now? Is it your aim? Is it your life's purpose to be well-pleasing to God?

Are you dedicated to Him? Are you filled with the Spirit and consumed by the things of God so that the things of this world and the things of this life cannot come in? There's no room for them because of what God is doing in you. And does your life cause people around you to worship God, to testify of His goodness and mercy? This is what God desires for you. The prayer of dedication is a prayer that God will answer.

And so I want to look just briefly at chapter 6 of 2 Chronicles. Just a couple of verses here and there. You can read it in context and entirety for yourself. But I think there's a couple of things here that we can learn from as we desire to dedicate ourselves to God. What kind of things ought we to pray? What is it that we should be desiring and asking God to do as we dedicate ourselves to God that we would be filled and consumed by Him? First of all,

Well, chapter 6, Solomon is speaking to the people there at the beginning and then in verse 12, he begins his prayer to the Lord, but we pick it up in verse 18, which says, But will God indeed dwell with men on earth? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built. Verse 19, Yet, regard the prayer of your servant. What's Solomon saying? The world can't continue. The universe, it can't contain you.

And yet, even though it can't continue, Lord, will you put your presence in this place? First thing we should pray in dedicating ourselves to the Lord is, Lord, will you dwell within me? Would you put your presence here? Lord, the heaven of heavens can't continue, but you promised that you would come and abide within us. Jesus said, if you abide in me and I in you, you'll bear fruit. He desires to abide in us, to dwell within us, to live within us.

God desires that intimacy of relationship with us. And so first we pray, Lord, would you dwell within me? Jumping down to verse 20, he says that your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place where you said you would put your name, that you may hear the prayer which your servant makes towards this place. Here Solomon says, Lord, you said you would put your name here. So Lord, would you be faithful to do what you said? The second thing we pray in a prayer of dedication is, Lord, put your name on me.

Let my life reflect you, reflect your name, proclaim your name to the world around me. Let my life be your fingerprint. We call ourselves Christians. It means like Christ or little Christ. Lord, more than just a title. Would you put your name in my life? That my life, that my being would proclaim your name to the world around me. You said you would, Lord. As he goes on, he gives testimony.

Some different examples. Lord, if this situation happens and people come and pray here or pray toward this place, would you hear and respond? Of course, we are the temple of God, but that doesn't mean that people are to pray to us or towards us. But the idea here for us as Christians, we are the temple of God. And so, God, what is He most concerned about? People.

He's put people in our lives. And so when people come to us for prayer for different reasons, Lord, would you hear my prayer? In verse 21, when people come to pray for supplication, Lord, would you hear our prayer? And so, Lord, for me as your temple, when people come to me, when there's people around me and they have requests and supplications and needs, Lord, would you hear the prayer that I pray for them as I'm dedicated to you, as I'm walking with you? Lord, would you pay attention? Would you take heed to the prayer that I pray for them and those people that you've brought to me?

Verse 24, Lord, when someone who's defeated comes to me, who's been beaten badly, spiritually or otherwise, Lord, would you hear my prayer when I pray for them? Verse 26, Lord, when there's times of drought, when you bring to me someone who's facing a drought, who's dried out spiritually, or whose resources have gone dry, Lord, would you hear my prayer when I pray for them? Would you take heed and pay attention to it?

Verse 29, for whatever. Lord, when there's someone who's near me or brought to me, Lord, when you bring someone to me and they need prayer for whatever it is, whatever their need may be, Lord, would you pay attention to that prayer? Would you hear that prayer and respond and answer that prayer? Verse 32, Lord, would you hear my prayer when you bring foreigners, when you bring those who don't know you into my life, when you bring that co-worker, that person who's desiring to know you or that person who's rebellious against you, Lord, when you bring those foreigners,

Lord, would you hear my prayer? As I lift them before you, would you take heed? Verse 36, Lord, would you hear my prayer for forgiveness? For those that have sinned against you, Lord, would you help me to restore people? Would you help me to bring them into right relationship with you? Would you hear my prayer as I pray for them? For restoration and strength. And Lord, would you do that work as you promised you would? These are just, you know, little pieces here of the prayer that Solomon prayed. But they're important for us.

That we would understand that our lives are to be dedicated to God. And that the people around us aren't there just to be in our way and to irritate us. But the people are there because God desires a relationship with them. And our families and our friends and our co-workers and our neighbors and the people that we just run into on the random. God has placed them there. He's deeply concerned about them. He loves them dearly and wants a relationship with them. And he's called you to be the temple of God.

That people would be able to come to you. That he would be able to bring people to you. That they might be able to be pointed to him. That they might be helped along in a relationship with him. That they might be strengthened in a walk with him. That's why I exist. That's why you're here too. Because God desires to reach the people around us. This passage reminds me of another passage in Acts chapter 4.

The disciples had been warned and strictly admonished by the Jewish leaders to not preach in the name of Jesus Christ any longer. And so when they gathered together with the rest of the believers, they told them what happened and what they'd been told. And so they prayed. But they didn't do like the leaders wanted them to do. They prayed for boldness. They said, Lord, would you help us? They've told us this, but Lord, we want to be obedient to you. So would you help us to do what you've called us to do?

In a sense, they dedicated themselves to God. Lord, we're yours. We don't care what the people say, what the world say around us, but we want to do what you've called us to do. And there in Acts chapter 4, verse 31, it says, And when they had prayed, notice the similarity with chapter 7, verse 1, when Solomon had finished praying. So when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken.

And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Did you get it? They were filled. It was consumed. The place where they were was shaken because of the power of God, the presence of God. And then it says that they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now they begin to testify of God. They became a witness for God. And people around began to worship God and get right with God. I would love for this place to be shaken this morning.

Would you dedicate yourself to God? Would you give yourself wholeheartedly and completely to Him? To be used by Him for His pleasure, for His purposes? Would you allow yourself to be filled with His Holy Spirit and consumed by the power of God, by the presence of God, that people around you would testify of God's goodness and mercy? Are you willing? If you pray the prayer, understand God hears that prayer. He responds to that prayer.

There's not one person who prays that prayer sincerely that God will not receive and answer that prayer. In 1 John chapter 5 it tells us if we pray anything according to the Father's will, we know that He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, then we know that we have what we ask for. And I can guarantee you that it's God's will for you to be wholeheartedly, completely dedicated to Him, set apart for His purposes.

I can guarantee you that He desires to fill you completely, to baptize you in the Holy Spirit, to overwhelm you and to flow forth from you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I can guarantee you that He wants to use you to be a witness to the people around you, that your life and what He's doing in you would cause people around you to worship God and testify of His goodness and mercy. That's what God desires for you. That's God's will for your life. And if you will pray in agreement with God's will, if you will pray that prayer for you, God hears that prayer and you will be filled and you will be consumed and people will testify of God's goodness and mercy. But be prepared.

Sometimes we pray and then we're surprised when God answers. So don't be shocked when later on today someone comes up for prayer. Or someone comes and needs to get right with God. Don't be shocked when that happens because God loves and now you're dedicated. Now you're committed to Him and He says, great, now I can use you. He'll bring people your way. He'll give you opportunities. He desires to use you to reach people because He loves them dearly. So He desires for you to be dedicated to Him. Would you pray in agreement with Him, in accordance with His will?

that your life would be altogether consumed with His will, His purposes, and His pleasure. Would you make it your aim this morning, whether absent or present, to be well-pleasing to God? It's a prayer that He will answer. It's His will. It's His desire for your life. The worship team is going to come up and lead us in this last song. I encourage you, I challenge you to make this song your prayer and to use this time to dedicate yourself to God. Give yourself to Him. You won't be disappointed.

God desires to work in your life. Maybe it's the first time ever. Maybe you've not been born again. Maybe you've not been forgiven of your sins. You haven't received what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross by faith. This morning you can do that by simply asking Jesus Christ to forgive you. Proclaiming Him as your Lord and Savior. You can do this by dedicating yourself to God. Maybe you've done that many times. Maybe you've rededicated your life many times.

Today is the day that God wants us to be dedicated to Him. So let's use this time, let's use this worship as our prayer, as our request for God to use us, to fill us, to consume us, and to testify through us of His love and grace to the people around us. Afterwards, there'll be people up here if you need to get right with God, they're His temples. Come on up. Be led in right relationship with the Lord.

Get right with God this morning. Let's give ourselves completely to Him. Amen?