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Christly LivingChristly Living
WHAT IS GOD'S TEMPLE? III
Memorise:
And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks: .. Deuteronomy 12:6
Read:
Deuteronomy 12:5-6
Message
Beyond being the house of prayer and healing, God's temple is also the house of sacrifice. Anyone who wants to sacrifice anything has to take his sacrifice to a designated place. In Yoruba land, where I come from, when they want to sacrifice to the devil, they take the sacrifice to the crossroad, and when they want to sacrifice to witches and wizards, they put it behind an lroko tree. For us who give sacrifices to the Most High God, He said in 2 Chronicles 7:12 that He has chosen His temple as the place where He will accept our sacrifices. Furthermore, Deuteronomy 16:16 says that you should not come empty-handed when you are coming to the temple of God because He wants to accept your sacrifice.
A friend of mine used to say whenever he was taking offerings, "If you have none, borrow from your neighbour so that when the basket is going round, God will see you putting something in." Then he would add, "It will not be long before you too will lend to others." God takes giving a sacrifice in His temple so seriously that He always observes what people drop in the offering basket. In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus watched the offerings that people gave and weighed which ones were sacrifices and which were not. This tells you clearly that God is keen on accepting sacrifices in His temple.
Some people say that because they don't trust their pastor, they will rather give to the poor than give in church. First, I don't understand why they have a pastor they believe to be a thief. Secondly, it is good to give to the poor; Proverbs 19:17 says that when you give to the poor, you are indirectly giving to God. However, you must never neglect giving your sacrifices in the house of God itself. If somebody says he likes me and gives my children money whenever he sees them by the roadside, but he refuses to give when he sees that there is a need in my family, despite knowing the way to my house and having money to give, I will begin to suspect such a fellow. It will be clear that he isn't giving to my children because he likes me but for other reasons. This might be because he just wants to be seen in public as a giver or that he wants to gain some undue influence over my children. It's the same when you claim to give to the poor in the name of God but never give in the house of God itself.
Bible In One Year:
Exodus 35-37
Hymn:
Take My Life And Let It Be
Key Point:
Make it a point of duty to never go to the house of God empty-handed. It is a place of sacrifice.
Take my life, and let it be
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