1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 What's a three-year-old most known for? 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,000 No. 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:14,080 You can ask them if they want something really good to eat and they will tell you no when 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,440 they really want it. 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:16,440 Okay? 6 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:18,040 How about a three-year-old? 7 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:23,280 What's a three-year-old famous for? 8 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,840 One word. 9 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,080 Why? 10 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,320 Why? 11 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:31,320 Why? 12 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:32,320 Why? 13 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:33,320 Why? 14 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:34,920 It doesn't really matter. 15 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,400 It's why about whatever, right? 16 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:43,560 I was one of those kind of kids once a very, very long time ago. 17 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:50,080 But I went from being a three-year-old to ask why to asking questions. 18 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,720 I drove my mother nuts. 19 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:55,280 Really truly. 20 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,680 Because I wanted to know this and I wanted to know that and I wanted to know the other 21 00:00:58,680 --> 00:00:59,680 thing. 22 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:05,200 A lot of my questions had to do with, mommy, who's God? 23 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:10,500 Well, she didn't really know. 24 00:01:10,500 --> 00:01:13,840 But she started kind of hunting for answers for me. 25 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:20,040 Then, well, mommy, where does God live? 26 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,200 What happens when you die? 27 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,360 My mother was clueless. 28 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:32,720 But she took a series of studies advertised on the radio because she needed to answer 29 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,920 my questions. 30 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:48,880 So she took a series of Bible studies from it is written. 31 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:53,440 So what kind of answers do you think I got? 32 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,520 Things that she discovered in those Bible studies. 33 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:00,840 I learned that the dead are dead and that Saturday was the Sabbath when I was about 34 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:02,340 this high. 35 00:02:02,340 --> 00:02:05,840 But some things never change. 36 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:12,040 I didn't become a real Christian until I was a teenager and I was telling Sabbath school 37 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,000 this morning about a little book. 38 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,360 In fact, I have it with me even. 39 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,360 I carry it. 40 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,120 It's green and it's about this big. 41 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:21,120 Anybody remember that? 42 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,120 Remember what the name of that book was? 43 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,360 A little green book. 44 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,920 About that big. 45 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:31,600 Steps to Christ. 46 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,640 Only people who have white hair would know that. 47 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:35,640 Okay? 48 00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:37,120 Steps to Christ. 49 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:43,320 And I was hunting for a book to read one day and I picked that out of the bookcase and 50 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,640 I read it from one end to the other. 51 00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:49,480 Saturday was home. 52 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:57,480 I read it and I read myself through the steps of salvation and I became a Christian. 53 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,800 But some things never changed. 54 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,960 I'm still asking questions. 55 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,720 I wonder, what does that mean? 56 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:09,820 Where did that start? 57 00:03:09,820 --> 00:03:17,240 And so what I want to share with you this morning comes from the fact that I ask questions. 58 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,560 And you would think at my age maybe I ought to know all the answers. 59 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:22,060 Guess what? 60 00:03:22,060 --> 00:03:23,280 I don't. 61 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,560 I don't know all the answers. 62 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:27,840 But I still have tons of questions. 63 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:35,320 And as I grew older, I learned I could find answers to my questions. 64 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:41,480 And I found them right here in this book. 65 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,080 I found the answers to my questions. 66 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:52,200 But when I read scripture now, several years now, words will kind of almost bounce off 67 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,360 of the page at me. 68 00:03:55,360 --> 00:04:00,980 They will maybe come alive, but they make me ask questions. 69 00:04:00,980 --> 00:04:09,920 And so Caleb read our scripture this morning and something bounced off the page at me that 70 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:10,920 hadn't before. 71 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,920 And it's a text that's really familiar with us. 72 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:16,760 And we'll get to most of the text later. 73 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:24,820 But I want to share with you the one, the phrase that bounced out at me this time. 74 00:04:24,820 --> 00:04:29,200 So we're still in 2 Corinthians 6.16. 75 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:35,320 And it reads again, and what agreement has the temple of God with idols for you are the 76 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,520 temple of the living God? 77 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,920 As God has said, I will dwell in them and among them. 78 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:44,920 I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 79 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,560 What bounced out at me this time was two words, living God. 80 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:55,000 And I thought, well, that makes sense. 81 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,800 God's not dead. 82 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,640 When I was in my late teens, there was this theory, God is dead. 83 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:04,640 Anybody remember that? 84 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,800 It's kind of died along with everything else. 85 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:15,920 But it was being taught in universities and everywhere that God is dead. 86 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:17,320 But God is not dead. 87 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:18,880 God is the living God. 88 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:25,560 And I thought, hmm, I wonder where that phrase came from. 89 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,040 Here's my questioning again. 90 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,040 Just part of my DNA, that's who I am. 91 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:40,840 So I have this handy dandy little Bible program on my iPad that I can look up anything on. 92 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:44,120 And I just typed in living God in my Bible program. 93 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,120 And instantly, I have all these texts. 94 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:48,920 And so I went through them. 95 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,820 And I want to share some of those with you this morning. 96 00:05:51,820 --> 00:05:56,520 Not all of them, because we'd be here really late, and you don't want me to do that, and 97 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:58,220 I don't want to do that. 98 00:05:58,220 --> 00:06:06,840 But some of them, one of them is the first time it was ever said. 99 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:08,760 And that's important in scripture. 100 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,540 It's called the law of first mention. 101 00:06:11,540 --> 00:06:19,140 Because when you first run into a phrase or a word that's used, it is very, very often 102 00:06:19,140 --> 00:06:24,300 the most complete understanding that you're going to get. 103 00:06:24,300 --> 00:06:26,620 But it develops past that point. 104 00:06:26,620 --> 00:06:30,880 So the first mention is in Deuteronomy. 105 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:35,240 And Deuteronomy, we studied that in Sabbath school here, last quarter, quarter before 106 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:36,240 last. 107 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:37,240 Not been that long. 108 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:44,160 Deuteronomy was Moses going over the history of the children of Israel. 109 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:50,600 And he didn't use this in Exodus, but he used it in Deuteronomy 526. 110 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:57,060 And he said, for who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God 111 00:06:57,060 --> 00:07:05,200 speaking to them from the midst of the fire as we have and lived? 112 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,640 First time living God was mentioned. 113 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:09,760 Did Adam know that God was living? 114 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:11,140 Yeah, bet. 115 00:07:11,140 --> 00:07:13,200 He walked in the garden with him. 116 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,400 But the phrase living God, this is the first time it's used. 117 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:27,520 So this text was spoken, and he was recounting the giving of the Ten Commandments. 118 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,680 So who gave the Ten Commandments? 119 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,800 The living God. 120 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:40,840 And it's the first time God is called the living God with those words. 121 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:46,040 Given at a time when idolatry was rampant. 122 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:48,120 They had just come out of Egypt. 123 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:50,720 They weren't very far out of Egypt. 124 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,720 Somebody said the other day it was 40 days out of Egypt. 125 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,440 They were given the Ten Commandments. 126 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:05,480 So they come out of a very idolatrous time, and God spoke to them, the living God from 127 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:07,240 the mountain. 128 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:16,200 And before Moses leaves, he gives them the assurance again that God is the living God 129 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:17,800 who gave this to you. 130 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:22,500 Not stones, not sticks, not rocks, not wood. 131 00:08:22,500 --> 00:08:25,560 The living God gave you the Ten Commandments. 132 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:31,080 Well, that was somewhere around 1500 BC. 133 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:36,360 And I'm going to track dates with you because I want you to see that this doesn't just happen 134 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,080 one right after the other. 135 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:51,320 The next mention that we find of it is somewhere between 1000 and like 970 BC. 136 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:55,640 So this is 500 years later. 137 00:08:55,640 --> 00:09:01,360 And it happened, David said it. 138 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:06,560 And he spoke with the Maroon around him and saying, what shall be done for the man who 139 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:10,760 kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? 140 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:16,000 For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of? 141 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,040 Who do you suppose? 142 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,640 The living God. 143 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:23,160 Second time it's used, 500 years later. 144 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:27,160 I think it was referred to commonly. 145 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,400 Next time it's in scripture. 146 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:35,000 And then David said, your servant has killed both a lion and a bear. 147 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:40,720 And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing as he has defied 148 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:47,160 the armies of the living God. 149 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:51,200 So David, he was a teenager, guys. 150 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,600 Okay, he was a kid. 151 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,680 17, 18, somewhere around that. 152 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:03,240 He had an understanding of who God was, that God was the living God. 153 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:09,680 And then later, as David was writing the Psalms, probably while he was running from Saul, he 154 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:15,320 said, my soul thirsts for the living God. 155 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,480 When shall I come and appear before God? 156 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:25,660 And again he said, my soul longs, yes, even faints for the court of the Lord. 157 00:10:25,660 --> 00:10:33,960 My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 158 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:40,240 David knew God, he wanted to be drawn into a closer relationship with him. 159 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,840 The next mention in the Bible we have is Hezekiah. 160 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:56,720 And this was somewhere 6, 700-ish, don't have an exact date. 161 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,360 Hezekiah was 25 when he started reigning. 162 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,240 And he reigned for 29, 29 years. 163 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:05,000 He was the son of Ahaz. 164 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,320 Now was Ahaz a good king or a bad king? 165 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:09,820 Remember? 166 00:11:09,820 --> 00:11:11,460 Not a good king. 167 00:11:11,460 --> 00:11:12,460 Not a good king at all. 168 00:11:12,460 --> 00:11:17,000 But Hezekiah came out believing. 169 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,840 First thing he did was he went around and he broke down all the high places, so he got 170 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,760 rid of the idols. 171 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:28,960 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among the 172 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,040 kings of Judah, nor were there before him. 173 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:38,000 He held fast to the Lord God, he did not part from following, but kept his commandments 174 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,280 which the Lord commanded Moses. 175 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:47,040 In the ninth year of his reign, Assyria took Israel captive. 176 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:53,820 Now he was in the southern kingdom of Judah, but Assyria came in and wiped out Israel and 177 00:11:53,820 --> 00:11:55,560 took him off. 178 00:11:55,560 --> 00:12:04,400 In the 14th year, Sennacherib, from the same area, came against Judah and took many cities. 179 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:08,940 Hezekiah gave tribute, but still this guy kept coming and coming. 180 00:12:08,940 --> 00:12:14,880 He was going to take Jerusalem and he mocked them. 181 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:23,060 And Hezekiah went to prayer. 182 00:12:23,060 --> 00:12:26,480 He went to prayer. 183 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:36,820 And he said, it may be that the Lord your God will hear the words that are said. 184 00:12:36,820 --> 00:12:45,840 This king of Assyria has sent a reproach to the living God. 185 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:49,840 And he sent to Isaiah and he said, Isaiah what should I do? 186 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:53,240 So Isaiah and Hezekiah were contemporaries. 187 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:58,360 And Isaiah said, don't need to worry about him. 188 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,520 Don't need to worry about him. 189 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,400 God's going to take care of him. 190 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:14,920 So Hezekiah and this guy that I can't even pronounce his name, Rabshaka, something like 191 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:24,080 that, the cup bearer for Sennacherib came with a letter and said, either bow down or 192 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:28,120 we're going to take you basically is what he said. 193 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:35,000 And Hezekiah took this letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. 194 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:43,080 And Hezekiah went up to the temple, to the house of God and spread it before the Lord. 195 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:50,640 And he prayed and he said, oh Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, 196 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:57,320 you are God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth, 197 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:06,960 incline your ear, oh Lord, and open your eyes, oh Lord, and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, 198 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:13,440 which he sent to reproach the living God. 199 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:22,540 And so he prayed and the living God did something pretty amazing. 200 00:14:22,540 --> 00:14:33,600 This living God took care of Sennacherib on 185,000 soldiers. 201 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:39,040 They were all dead the next morning. 202 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:45,560 The living God did that because Hezekiah went to the living God. 203 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:52,960 Next, I didn't put a date on this one and I should have. 204 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:57,320 I'm going to say it's at least a couple hundred years later, maybe more. 205 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:02,320 Actually it's more than that because the children of Israel went into captivity. 206 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:10,500 They were there 70 years and they came back 500-ish. 207 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:18,000 The next mention of the living God comes from a Persian king. 208 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,720 I find that amazing. 209 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:30,280 He just thrown Daniel in the lion's den because these guys were out to get Daniel and he had 210 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:32,200 to carry through on what he said. 211 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:39,880 And he came the next morning and he opened up the den and he said, Daniel, servant of 212 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:46,920 the living God has your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from 213 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:48,640 the lions. 214 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:57,440 A heathen king called God the living God. 215 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:03,200 And then he did something that I find just really amusing considering he was a heathen 216 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:04,200 king. 217 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:10,320 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble in fear before 218 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:17,840 the God of Daniel for He is the living God and stand fast forever. 219 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:24,120 His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed and His dominion shall endure to 220 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:26,560 the end. 221 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:35,480 Even the heathen king knew that our God is a living God. 222 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:43,480 Well time progresses from that point and we end up in the New Testament. 223 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:50,560 And it's used all over the place in the New Testament. 224 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:57,280 When Jesus asked Peter who do men say that I am and then who do you say that I am? 225 00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:02,240 Peter answered you are the Christ the son of guess who? 226 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,720 The living God. 227 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:14,200 We have come to know and believe that you are the Christ the son of the living God. 228 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,760 And here's another really interesting one. 229 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:27,040 When Jesus was brought before the high priest he kept silent. 230 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:33,360 Now you've got to understand that this priesthood was totally corrupt. 231 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:40,760 They were into money and stuff and power. 232 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:43,040 Did they care much about anything else? 233 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:44,040 No. 234 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:46,800 Money, stuff and power. 235 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:54,480 And this high priest said I put you under oath by the living God. 236 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,120 Tell us if you are the Christ the son of God. 237 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:05,160 Isn't it interesting that a totally corrupt high priest would ask that question? 238 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,900 Then comes Paul and it's used throughout the New Testament. 239 00:18:08,900 --> 00:18:13,560 So I'm just going to give you a few. 240 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:21,240 Paul wrote to Timothy his protege and he said but if I'm delayed I write to you so that 241 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:27,000 you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of the God, house of God which 242 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:31,680 is the church of the living God. 243 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:36,800 The pillar and the ground of truth. 244 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:41,300 Another time to Timothy for this is the end we both labor and suffer and reproach because 245 00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:51,080 we trust in the living God who is the savior of all men especially those who believe. 246 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:57,480 Hebrews beware brother unless there be any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing 247 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:03,520 from the living God. 248 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:07,960 And it goes on. 249 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:17,520 To the Corinthians clearly you are an epistle of Christ ministered by us written not with 250 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:25,800 ink but with the spirit of the living God not on tablets of stone or flesh that is of 251 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,860 the heart. 252 00:19:28,860 --> 00:19:33,520 And then we come to today's text and we're going to flush this out a little bit more 253 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:41,720 but the background is the living God. 254 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:49,480 He said to the Corinthians what agreement has the temple of God with idols. 255 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:56,360 We've just been talking about who the living God idols are they alive. 256 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,120 No they're dead. 257 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:05,640 So he said you are the temple of the living God. 258 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,260 Have you stopped to take that in. 259 00:20:09,260 --> 00:20:12,920 This is where that phrase bounced out at me. 260 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,800 You are the temple of the living God. 261 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:25,520 I am the temple of the living God. 262 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,020 What's a temple? 263 00:20:29,020 --> 00:20:30,440 Temple definition. 264 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:34,960 What's a temple? 265 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:36,960 A place of worship. 266 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:38,100 OK good. 267 00:20:38,100 --> 00:20:41,600 It's a place of worship. 268 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:48,040 It can be to worship an idol right. 269 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,800 It can be. 270 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:56,600 But Paul said we're the temple of the living God. 271 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,520 What that means. 272 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,120 What should be taking place within me. 273 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:04,280 You're right. 274 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,040 It's a place to worship. 275 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:08,040 It's a place for me to worship. 276 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:14,780 It's a place for you to worship. 277 00:21:14,780 --> 00:21:20,880 And God said I will dwell in them and walk among them. 278 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,260 I will be their God and they shall be my people. 279 00:21:24,260 --> 00:21:28,160 And here he is quoting Leviticus by the way. 280 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,760 This was said way back. 281 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:32,760 OK. 282 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,280 At least 2000 years before. 283 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,840 Long time back. 284 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,480 Probably more like. 285 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,120 I'm not going to guess but it's more than 2000 years previous. 286 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:44,600 He's quoting this. 287 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:45,600 OK. 288 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:47,080 God said this. 289 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:55,000 I will dwell in them and walk among them. 290 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,400 I will be their God and they shall be my people. 291 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,160 Has anything changed? 292 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,200 No. 293 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,640 He's still talking to his people. 294 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:14,640 I will dwell in them. 295 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,400 Now N is a preposition. 296 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:22,800 Those of you people who know anything about English. 297 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,320 Prepositions show the position of something. 298 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:27,320 OK. 299 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:31,400 I had to memorize those when I was a kid. 300 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,760 And I see Jennifer nodding her head. 301 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:35,840 There were like 40 some of them. 302 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,360 We had to memorize them in alphabetical order. 303 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:44,840 And later when I was teaching English it was anything a mouse can do. 304 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:45,840 No. 305 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:47,120 Anything a bird can do to a cloud. 306 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:52,080 They can go in the cloud, under the cloud, over the cloud, beside the cloud. 307 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:53,680 All of those are prepositions. 308 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:58,600 But that word in. 309 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:05,200 What does that mean? 310 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:06,640 Can you be in a box? 311 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:11,240 If it's big enough, right? 312 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,520 It means inside of. 313 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:23,320 And here God says I will dwell or I will live in them. 314 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,360 And this is what kind of a God? 315 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:28,280 The living God. 316 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,200 I will dwell in them. 317 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:36,600 And I will walk among them. 318 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:43,760 I will be their God and they shall be my people. 319 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:53,160 Now often when we pray before church, we pray that God will be present with us. 320 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,080 That he will live in us. 321 00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:02,520 Stop and think about that. 322 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,920 The living God has promised that. 323 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:12,920 He has promised to be in us and walk among us. 324 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:18,440 And to walk in scripture, that word walk means to live. 325 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,560 To carry yourself about. 326 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:27,400 Do you know what an incredible promise that is? 327 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:32,280 He will be in us and he will walk among us as a people. 328 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,360 He will live with us. 329 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:41,520 Well this wouldn't be much if we didn't get to some practical application would it? 330 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,600 It would just be head knowledge that Cindy dug out of the scriptures. 331 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,880 So we're going to bring it home just a little bit. 332 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:57,000 Paul said, do you not know that you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells 333 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,480 in you? 334 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,680 That's kind of what we've been saying right? 335 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:07,460 He also said if anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him for the temple 336 00:25:07,460 --> 00:25:11,700 of God is holy which temple you are. 337 00:25:11,700 --> 00:25:19,760 Are you holy? 338 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:27,000 He considers us that way because when he sees us he sees Jesus. 339 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:33,160 We are the temple of the living God. 340 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:37,680 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you 341 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:42,480 have from God and you are not your own? 342 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:50,320 If we are a temple who do we belong to? 343 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,520 The living God right? 344 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,680 We belong to the living God. 345 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:03,040 You know even in Revelation it uses this phrase the living God. 346 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:08,760 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of home. 347 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,600 The living God and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted 348 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,120 to harm the earth and the sea and it goes on. 349 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:20,240 But he has the seal of the living God. 350 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:30,280 If I am the temple of the living God, is he going to place his seal on me? 351 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:31,600 Yes. 352 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:36,120 If you are the temple of the living God, is he going to place his seal on you? 353 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:37,120 Yes. 354 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:43,320 But it is interesting to me that it is the seal of the living God. 355 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,520 Well what does this all tell me about God anyway? 356 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,880 I told you we have to do practical application right? 357 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,600 Number one, he is alive. 358 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:59,200 He is not wood, stone, whatever else. 359 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:07,560 He is not only my creator, he is a personal God. 360 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,440 He is not somebody you know that is out there. 361 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,040 He is personal. 362 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,880 He wants to live in us and he sends his spirit to accomplish that. 363 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,080 If you have one you have all three right? 364 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:22,900 The father, the son and the Holy Spirit. 365 00:27:22,900 --> 00:27:26,140 He accomplishes that through the Holy Spirit. 366 00:27:26,140 --> 00:27:29,040 He wants to live in us. 367 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,880 He wants to dwell among us. 368 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:40,160 That is a pretty amazing kind of God don't you think? 369 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:46,040 What does this tell me about myself? 370 00:27:46,040 --> 00:28:02,200 God regards me, us, as a place that is worthy of his presence. 371 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:07,260 He desires to live among his people. 372 00:28:07,260 --> 00:28:13,880 He wants to be in us and among us. 373 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:23,360 He also gives me the right to choose whose temple or whose dwelling place I will be. 374 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:24,360 Can you imagine? 375 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:30,300 I think that would be hard if I were God. 376 00:28:30,300 --> 00:28:36,120 You know when I make things I kind of like them. 377 00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:43,200 Sometimes they flub up and they are ugly but when I make something I really like it. 378 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,360 I like to look at it. 379 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:55,280 But God gives me the right to choose to serve him when he made me. 380 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:59,840 He does ask me to make responsible choices. 381 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:03,720 Sometimes I don't and if you are honest probably sometimes you don't. 382 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:08,520 But he really wants us to make responsible choices. 383 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:13,440 And he leaves me responsible for the upkeep of his house. 384 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,400 He wants to live in me. 385 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:21,400 But I am responsible for the upkeep. 386 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:22,560 He will live in me. 387 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,560 He wants to cleanse me. 388 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:32,840 He wants the inner temple to be clean physically and morally. 389 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:34,160 He wants us to be clean. 390 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:39,760 And he will do that if we let him. 391 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:49,000 And the outside of the temple reveals who lives inside the temple. 392 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:56,280 The outside of the temple reveals who lives inside the temple. 393 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,140 So some application here. 394 00:29:59,140 --> 00:30:06,360 He wants to cleanse the inner temple but he won't do it if I don't cooperate. 395 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,880 He wants to take sin out of my life. 396 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,660 I am really glad for that because it is pretty ugly. 397 00:30:13,660 --> 00:30:18,880 He wants to take it out of my life but he won't take it unless I let him. 398 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:28,880 And he wants the outside of my temple to reveal that he lives on the inside of the temple. 399 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,880 That's pretty amazing.