Of note, notes are ***Uncut / Unedited Sermon Notes taken by: Minister Evelyn Diane Thomas***
Guest Speaker: Dr. Howard-John Wesley
Scripture Reading:
2 Chronicles 29 – Varios scripture – 1- 3 and 29-30 – Hezekiah Purifies the Temple
1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 25 He stationed the Levites in the temple of the LORD with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the LORD through his prophets. 26 So the Levites stood ready with David’s instruments, and the priests with their trumpets. 27 Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the LORD began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the musicians played and the trumpets sounded. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed. 29 When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. 30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped. 31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to the LORD. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the LORD.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.32 The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams and two hundred male lambs—all of them for burnt offerings to the LORD. 33 The animals consecrated as sacrifices amounted to six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep and goats. 34 The priests, however, were too few to skin all the burnt offerings; so their relatives the Levites helped them until the task was finished and until other priests had been consecrated, for the Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side…5 and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.
Sermon Title: The doors of the church are open
A member held up the line at the end of Sunday serve and deciced to block the exit because she wanted to understand her life purpose… Come to find out, she was celebrating her 25th birthday.. She had decided that she had reached the end of her secular life and wanted to begin a new life with her Father’s business (Jesus).. Everything you can do, you are not created to do… She wanted me to help her understand what God has called her to do… Why did God birth me on this planet and what purspose does God have to wake me up every morning…
Some point on your journey you should wonder what God expects you to do… He said he met with her later on and came to the conclusion that even though we are anointed for different assignments, but if the truth be told there is one Universal purpose.. Even though we may do different things in life, there is one purpose… The universal purpose for humanity is that we may worship him for his omnipotent presence that we may exalt his name and declare that this is day that the Lord has made, and we shall rejoice and be glad in it… . What shall I render unto the Lord for all God has done for me… Worship him… We were made to worship him in spirit and in truth… When you understand the universal call to worship.. You understand the specificity of who God is… If you read the bible God is particular when people gather in a building to worship…. The building is the vehicle God use to find our purpose and for us to lift up God’s holy name.. He is specific about what is going on in holy house of worship…
Worship is the theological correlation of incarnation… We have a God that sits in the higher heaven, that shows up in Holy places that comes to us.. It’s not God coming to us… Worship is to get into the realm of God in the realm of sacredness to worship in the beauty of Holiness… . I don’t come to church to feel bad, but I may be lifted up and my soul made better… I come to worship in the presence of God.. Church is an elevator that only has an up button… I need something to take me higher than I was when I walked in…
Frustration of finding a parking space, and get things off your mind is a part of the process to get you ready for worship…. God is so particular about what happens in his house toward worship…. We are a generation that have lost respect for the house of God… There are some things you just don’t do or say in church…. Some folks don’t even get to the parking lot without cussing and fussing… Some folks don’t even wear church clothes for church… If you can get fancy to go the movies with a man, etc… You can surely get ready to come to the house of God looking decent on Sunday morning… Worship is not a casual affair..
The house of God played a significant roll in the house of God… When the people had strayed from the house God, you looked to the house Of God because the house of God is suppose to be in order… When the house is in order the city, county and state will be in order.. .The house of God needs a model like Empowerment Temple to represent…. When the people of God begin to worship God we will change the world..
Whenever the Lord wanted to bring the people back, the Lord always brought a revival to fix the house of God…
Go home and read about Jehoshaphat…. Hezekiah, became King at 25… You have to understand who is Daddy is to understand who Hezekiah is… When Hezekiah became King God told him that you have to fix the house of God.. .He called this visionary young man to change the world … He had to fix three things in the church…
1) He repairs the doors of the house of the Lord… You will notice that in Jewish cultures, there were multiple entrances in the temple.. They were based on your gender, your economical status, etc… What door you went through depended on who you were… The doors were destroyed because only the people got in were the people that were not perfect… Hezekiah, could not worship in an environment where everybody was so sanctified and self righteous… Hezekiah wanted to open the door to people that have not always been perfect… People that just got out of jail, People that are HIV positive, etc. and people that really did not qualify to go through the doors of the temple (paraphrased)…
He wore his costume to school, and he told his mom that he had to take the mask off because he could not breathe, etc… He made that analogy to let someone know that you can take off your mask and be real… Thank God there is a door that someone like me can come through… He opened the doors of the church and the people started to come… When they came they started to bring an offerring… Bulls, rams… Etc.. The problem was that the number of sacrifices were greater than the number of consecrated priest… Now worship was in jeopardy because there were not enough consecrated priest… The one’s that needed to get Holy did not get ready in time… Some folks can’t get ready because they cannot distinguish between Jesus and their Pastor… You are sad if you don’t’ think the Pastor dont’ struggle with the same things you struggle with… Do not put your pastor on a pedal stool but put him on the alter because you need folks to pray for you too….. If by chance if the priest have some issues to deal with, you know that they go through things just like you…. You know we have a priest that sits on the right hand of the Father that is blameless and his name is Jesus…
Empowerment temple keeps going because they had some Levites in the house of God that declared that they were going to worship God no matter what is going on… They love the man of God, but we love Jesus more… Because when we think of the goodness of God and all that he has done for me, I can worship him by myself…
We had a guest preacher when I first started Pastoring my church…. I invited some preachers that were not on point, and his style was irritating and when he got to the end of the sermon he began to yell and his theology was off and his style was irritating… … There was a sister that was shouting rooting him on, and said just because the man preaching did not do his job, I’m gone do my job and praise God and open my mouth and give God some praise no matter who has the mic in their hand….
He fixed the doors of the church and the Levites began to come… They have come a long way for the out skirts of Jerusalem… They come a long way but they have not stop to think about what the Lord allowed to pass over them.. It was the Grace and Mercy of God that brought them… Hezekiah said lets have a pass over praise…. Stop and give God glory for all he has done and brought you through.. Every mountain God moved… Every mouth God shut… Stop and give God a pass over praise…. If there is anything in your life that you can think God brought you through… Give him a passover praise…. I need some folks that know how to praise and worship God…..
The bible says that they celebrated the passover in the 2nd month…. Biblical scholars that’s not passover time… That was the wrong time… They gave thanks when it was not Thanksgiving time… There are some people that don’t have to wait to worship or shout unto God because God has been so good that every now and then you should give God an unsolicited praise….
God need some folks that can worship him…. You can’t sit next to everybody… .I have done some oversees travel… When you meet a stranger oversees you give them the language test… They want to know do you speak my language… .Do you speak French, Etc… The next time you walk into Empowerment Temple give them a language test…. Say “Praise the Lord..”. If they don’t respond, go move somewhere else.. I need to sit next to someone that knows how to praise the Lord.. Glory Hallelujah!!! Look at your neighbor and say “I will bless the Lord at all times and his praises shall continuously be in my mouth!”
Notes taken by: Minister Evelyn Diane Thomas – / Excellent message by guest Pastor:
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