Text: Deuteronomy 11 : 13 – 21 13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Theme: Temple Cleansing – Cleansing your home
Introduction
- This week we go on to sermon 2 of a three part series on Temple Cleansing.
- Last week we dealt with the Temple of the Holy Spirit [e]
- This week we are going to deal with cleansing our homes [e]
- Let remind ourselves of the difference between cleaning and cleansing….you can go through last week’s notes to do that. [e]
- Our homes…..whether we live in a 20 roomed mansion or a 1 room informal house, our homes are our castles [e]
- However, we need to come back to the Bible and we must realise that our home is a place of importance [e]
- What do many people see their homes as?:
• A place to live in [e]
• A place to bath, eat and sleep in [e]
• A refuge away from the world [e]
• A place for family [e]
• The list could go on…[e]
- What does God view our homes as?:
• According to the text we read, God sees our home as a place of spirituality
• A place where spiritual activity and instruction is to take place.
- Church history teaches us that the modern church did not confine themselves to the Jewish temple, but in peoples homes
- Acts 2:46 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
- Acts 5:42 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
- Allow me to remind you this morning that your home is your first church [e]
- Why?:
• Because you cannot pray in church if you first don’t pray at home [e]
• You cannot understand the Scriptures preached about in church if you don’t read the Word at home [e]
• You cannot worship God in church if have not been worshipping Him at home [e]
- Hence, we deduce this morning that the home of a Christian is a spiritual entity, just as the church is a spiritual entity [e]
- As we dig deeper into God’s Word this morning, let us acknowledge that many of our homes are not what God wants it to be [e]
- Over the years we have fallen into error in believing that the church and the home are separate and distinct from each other [e]
- Over the years we have been taught about proper spiritual activity in the church and the lack of teaching of the home has led us to believe that this sort of spiritual activity is limited to the church building and does not extend into the home [e]
- Allow me to say this morning that we have got it wrong [e]
- And that has led to our homes falling into a state of spiritual neglect and disrepair [e]
- Which brings me to my first point this morning:
1. The state of our homes
- Our esteemed and little loved state president, Jacob Zuma, after performing a number of dances and revolutionary songs of battle against an absent and non-existant enemy also speaks of the state of our nation under the governance of the so-called beloved ANC [e]
- A few days ago, he appeared on national television and delivered the state of the nation address [e]
- In the midst of a failing economy, rising unemployment and growing discontent, he assured us that the country is in good financial situation….even though we can all see that it is not so [e]
- In the midst of corruption so severe that 700 billion rands are gone missing and can not be accounted for since 2010, he assures us that government is performing well and the fight against corruption is almost won. [e]
- In the midst of uncontrolled crime, rising murders, rapes, robberies and an uprising against foreigners, he says that crime is under control and we have the best law enforcement agencies ever [e]
- And after a song, which is loosely translated as “Bring my machine gun”, he waltzes off stage and is whisked away in a fleet of luxury vehicle, escorted by a “blue light brigade” that is so aptly portrayed in the Nando’s advert [e]
- But we all can see that nothing is in order [e]
- We all can see everything is falling apart [e]
- The state of the nation is shocking, yet those in charge are in a state of denial [e]
- Just like that many of our homes are almost falling apart, but we want to go on as if nothing is wrong [e]
- It may hurt….it may be offensive to bring this up, but I want to ask you:
- Is God really dwelling in your home?
- How is the state of your home right now? [e]
- If I had to call you right now to deliver the state of my home address right now, what would it be like? [e]
- In many homes:
• Godly, spiritual activity is absent [e]
• Families are not praying together and praying for each other [e]
• Children are wayward, disobedient and are not saved [e]
• There is constant conflict [e]
• The high priest is not the high priest [e]
• Godly order has fallen away [e]
- If you have ticked the boxes against some of the thing I have mentioned this morning, don’t become angry and offended with me or the church for this [e]
- Maybe I’ve got it wrong and it does not apply to you [e]
- Then at the end of this sermon, please join me in prayer as we pray for those to whom it does apply [e]
- But if it does apply to your home, then get angry with the devil, who has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10)
2. Removing idols and the ungodly from our homes
- But Pastor, you say, we don’t have any idols in our homes [e]
- An idol does not have to be in a shape of a foreign god to which you light incense and offer up sacrifices [e]
- An idol is anything in your home that directly or indirectly stops you from giving God the worship and attention and the time that is due to Him [e]
- We need to removes these from our homes immediately [e]
- There needs to be a cleansing of our homes from all those things which have crept into our homes [e]
- I am going to specify two thing in points that follow, but now ask yourselves these important questions:
• What keeps me from praying and reading the Word? [e]
• What keeps me from going to church and home cell? [e]
• Is there anything that in unholy in my home? [e]
• Are there any books, magazines, objects that should not be in the home of a Christian? [e]
• Am I holding on to any tokens of my previous religious beliefs? [e]
- Eph 5:11 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- 1 John 1:6 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
- 2 Cor 6:14 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
- Lets now look at two things that affect our homes in a big way
3. The big black box
- How many of you can tell me what I am referring to when I speak of “the big black box”? [e]
- Yes, the television [e]
- Our medium of entertainment in the home [e]
- It comes in different sizes [e]
- Some of you have a 32” television [e]
- Some of you have the large LED, 3D cinema screen at home [e]
- But this morning its not the size that matters [e]
- Its how it has changed our lives that matters [e]
- I want to clarify this point by saying that there is nothing wrong with owning and using a television [e]
- But there is everything wrong when we allow the things that are screened to shape, mould and dictate our lives [e]
- Many people live out the upside down lives of soap operas because they think that the soap operas are the way is supposed to be [e]
- Our children become stubborn, difficult and violent because this sort of behaviour is glorified by TV programs [e]
- Our teenagers wear their pants below their underwear because the television shows them that the rap stars dress like this and it is cool [e]
- They use swear and curse words because they hear it on the TV and in the rap songs that they see on television [e]
- Everyday we witness murders and killings, rapes and robberies, affairs and broken relationships, rebellions and scornfulness……
- Not on the street [e]
- Not in the newspapers [e]
- Not even in the house down the road, but in our own homes…on the big black box [e]
- Initially we were shocked by it [e]
- Then we became insensitive to it [e]
- Now we glorify it [e]
- Research has shown that by the time a child reaches adulthood, he/she would have seen thousands of murders committed on the TV….in our homes [e]
- He/she would have seen thousands of robberies committed on the TV….in our homes [e]
- He/she would have seen that relationships are not important and can be changed at any time on the TV…in our homes [e]
- And we wonder why we live in a violent society [e]
- We wonder why there is so much of crime [e]
- We wonder why relationships break and why there is so much of infidelity [e]
- Because we have allowed it to be acceptable in our homes on the “big black box” [e]
- Phil 4:8 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
- It is time to cleanse our homes of things that we should not allow [e]
- It is time we realise our homes are holy places….filth does no belong in our homes [e]
- It time to cleanse the temple
4. The little black box
- There is something that we cannot seem to do without in our homes and our lives [e]
- We reach for it the moment we awake….
- It has also become the last thing we hold at night….
- We take it everywhere….
- To work…..to church…..to the toilet……to the shops and the mall…..
- It with us at the breakfast table…..its with us in the car….almost everyone has one…
- Little children who are not yet at school have their own [e]
- Old grannies and grandpas also have their own
- Even if we have no money to buy bread, we must buy stuff to keep this little black box running [e]
- Who knows what I am talking about? [e]
- Our mobile / cell phones
- We must have it no matter what [e]
- It has led to hundred of thousands of lives being lost in car crashes [e]
- I’ve seen young people of THIS church not being able to see or greet you because their heads are buried in their phones [e]
- It has become the most desired and sort after gifts for birthdays and Christmas [e]
- Billions of people’s lives are being run by their cell phones [e]
- Let me pause and say, like the TV, I have got no problems with you having cell phones…even the best ones
- By all means have a cell phone….even the best one
- But while I have no problem with you owning a cell phone, I have a huge problem with a cell phone owning you [e]
- I have no problem with you using a social networking site, but I have a huge problem with the sites corrupting you [e]
- Lets look at this little black box….
- Do you know this is one of the most valuable tools available to us today [explain]
- But like anything good, satan takes it and corrupts it [e]
- It has also become a medium for the release of pornographic material [e]
- It has also become a medium for people to go onto dating and adult chat site, which has led to so much infidelity [e]
- It has (and this one is very close to the church) become a medium for gossip and slander [e]
- C’mon Pastor, one would say, its just a small little phone [e]
- Yes, but it does great damage [e]
- Songs of Solomon 2:15 says Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
5. The sights and sounds of your home
- [Explain the purpose of a lighthouse]
- Our homes are spiritual lighthouses [e]
- So with that in mind, how that the sights and sounds of your home?
- In other words, what is the common things that one would see in your home? [e]
- And what are the things that one would hear from your home? [e]
- If Jesus was coming to visit you, would you do anything different? [e]
- There is a great big difference between a house and a home [e]
- A house is just a building [e]
- But it is a family that makes a home [e]
- Is you home a place of rest….or a place of turmoil? [e]
- Is your home a sanctuary or a hotbed of resentment? [e]
- Are there things in your home that you need to get rid off [e]
- Is your home in need of spiritual cleansing today? [e]
- I know that many of you are hurting this morning [e]
- When I speak about your home, it goes straight to your hearts [e]
- Maybe in times past, you just wanted to throw the towel in [e]
- Maybe you just wanted to lash out [e]
- Maybe you have been backed into a corner, and you just don’t know what to do [e]
- You may be saying, this morning, “Tell me, Pastor, just tell me what to do!”
- “How can my home turn around?”
- “How can my home be cleansed?”
- Lets look at my last point, as we conclude
Conclusion: The home of Obed Edom
- Let us read 2 Samuel 6: 1 – 12
- 6 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah[a] in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name,[b] the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it,[c] and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with castanets,[d] harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals. 6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. 8 Then David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. 9 David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household. 12 Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.”
- This is a rather interesting account of the moving of the Ark of the Covenant by King David
- In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was accompanied by the Presence of God [e]
- When the Ark came into the house of Obed Edom, the Bible says that God blessed that home abundantly…and with all types of blessings [e]
- When we make a decision that the Presence of God is of utmost importance in our homes, God will:
• Bring peace [e]
• Bless us and our family and our home ABUNDANTLY !
• Bless our family and our home with all types of blessings
- In order for the Presence of God to dwell in my home. I must get rid of everything ungodly [e]
- That means I must cleanse my home [e]
- The Bible teaches us that no household can have 2 masters [e]
- One has to leave before the other can take over [e]
- Church Obed Edom was blessed beyond measure [e]
- How many of you want to walk in that blessing? [e]
- Then we need to cleanse our homes….if something should not be in the home of a child of God, then let take out that trash {e]
- [Go into prayer for families and homes]
