Dedication Of The Temple Series

What God expects of us

Part 1---Dedication of the Temple

In life things change and die, cars, people, animals and that can be painful. When that happens we have to let them go and move on. You know churches are the same; some die and need to be released to become only memories. That is what I have to talk to you about today. We need to let the Buffalo Christian Church go and die. The Buffalo Christian church as we have come to know it.

Let me explain. We have had in the past several years a serious illness in the church. It’s called me itus. What that is, is it is all about me not about God and His church. Some how some of us have forgot this is not our church but it is God’s. It was purchased with the blood of Jesus. Jesus was made the head of the church which is His body. Some have become indifferent as to who has authority, Jesus (Matthew 28:18) only Jesus has full authority in the matters of his church not men. When we get back to the original reason for the church we will see that God has left instructions for us in the matters of what we need to do.

And to day I want all of us to embrace the new Buffalo Christian Church, the Church that belongs to Jesus and follows Him and Him only. But you may ask what we do first to change from the old to the new. Good question. First we must remember what we did when we became followers of Christ. We will be using Old Testament illustrations to understand the new. First we need to dedicate our temple again to Him. What does dedicate mean?

Dedicate—to set apart by a solemn act or religious ceremony, devote or set apart to some work or duty.

Let’s see how it was done before.

2 Chronicles 7:1-16

1When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. 3When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,

“He is good; his love endures forever.”

4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 6The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the LORD’S musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the LORD and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

7Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.

8So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more. 10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the LORD had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.

11When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12the LORD appeared to him at night and said:

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

13“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.