right in the sight

Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, just as his ancestor David had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east. He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites! Sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and carry out the filth from the holy place. For our ancestors have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God; they have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the dwelling of the LORD, and turned their backs. They gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in as the king had commanded, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD; and the Levites took them and carried them out to the Wadi Kidron. They began to sanctify on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD; then for eight days they sanctified the house of the LORD, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the rows of bread and all its utensils. All the utensils that King Ahaz repudiated during his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and sanctified; see, they are in front of the altar of the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 29:1-6, 15-19, NRSV)

Hezekiah was a man who listened to God and did what He asked him to do.

He helped the people and the priest focus on who they were in God and to do what God had asked them to do.

He was a man after David, a man after God’s own heart.

If we could strive to be like Hezekiah and David, and do what the Lord is asking us to do. To focus ourselves and others towards God!

This would be a godly undertaking for this season of understanding who we are in Christ!

love endures

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands. Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to prayer from this place. “Now rise up, O LORD God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your faithful rejoice in your goodness. O LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember your steadfast love for your servant David.” When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’S house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (2 Chronicles 6:12, 40-42; 7:1-3, NRSV)

God’s love will always cover whatever we put before Him.

He will not reject His anointed, or put us away from Him.

His love is enough for any and all of us!

For He is Good and His love is steadfast and will endure forever!

house of prayer

Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. (Mark 11:15-19, NRSV)

A house of prayer.

How many of our congregations are a house of prayer?

I wonder what Jesus would think of the congregation I serve right now. We have pizzas for sale in the narthex, and candy bars waiting for kids to pick them up in the office. We have signs up for our Fat Tuesday Wild Game dinner…

We are raising funds. Would Jesus come in and turn the tables, drive the pizzas out and throw out the candy bars?

If our focus isn’t on prayer, and worship of Him, I think He would!

So where is your focus?

 

be a mat

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:13-22, NRSV)

Have you ever thought or been taught that as Christians we should give and give and give and never bat an eye?

It seems like a lot of the stuff we read tells us that we should give our coats, and money to those in need. Which is true. God gave to us to give to others.

This does not mean that we become a door mat though and let others walk all over us and take what ever they want.

Jesus became indignant and made a whip and drove the people out of the temple when they were doing things for themselves rather than serving God.

So don’t be a door mat for Jesus, but give when God lays it on your heart and stand fast with Christ when the time comes!

escape

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belongs escape from death. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens; listen, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel; and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel; he gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! (Psalm 68:19-20, 32-35, NRSV)

And to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death…

What an interesting line. Because as Iron Maiden said in one of their songs, “as soon as you’re born you’re dying…”

It is inevitable we will all die a physical death.

Yet we do not have to die. We can continue in life with God beyond our physical deaths.

So while physical death is a step, we can thank God for solving the mystery of death for us and being the one to whom death does not hold any power.