I'm a bit late in blogging last week's sermon and I'm a bit tired after being with Beth Moore and lots of ladies all day, so I have decided to write about what I came away with from last week's sermon and the Word, etc. instead of blogging from my church notebook notes.
#1-Malachi 3:1 says, "..the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple.."
Pastor Frank talked about how God will come to those who seek Him. "Make us a seeker of God. May You seek Yourself in me."
Then I kept on reading in Malachi.
"But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner's fire
and like launderers' soap.
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness."
I wrote in my notebook after I read those words,
Or maybe Pastor Frank said this; I'm not sure anymore:
"Just as He cleansed the temple first when He rode into Jerusalem
so He will cleanse the sons of Levi when He comes.
The sons of Levi are the priests; the leaders.
As go the leaders, there go the people.
The priests are the ones who offer the sacrifices.
He will purge the priests as gold and silver is tried
that they may offer to the Lord an offering of righteousness."
We would think that the priests are the pastors,
the board members, the deacons, the leaders, etc.
and we would be right.
But God's Word says that we
as believers,
are a royal priesthood,
a holy nation and that He has made us kings and priests
to His God and Father.
The Word of God was written to all of us;
not just the leaders of the church.
We are all held accountable for what is in the Word.
So we should all be ready for His cleansing work.
I am quite sure He's been doing it for some time
and I am quite sure that He is going to 'step up'
His purging process with fire
and His cleansing process with soap.
I wonder if the soap is what washes off
the remains of the ashes from the fire.
The reason for this refinement
is so that our offerings to Him
would be full of integrity and righteousness,
so that our words of praise in the supernatural
would reflect the life we are living in the natural.
The part that scares me is this:
"Who can endure the day of His coming
and who can stand when He appears?"
No one will be pointing any fingers on that day.
We will all be on our faces.
But if we endure it,
and we are cleansed,
then we will be able offer
to God the
purified wine of our worship
in goblets of gold and silver
that have no blemish.
It will be worth it to Him
and it will be worth it to us.
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#2-When Jesus came out of His testing in the wilderness
He was prepared for the ministry. He was ready to be a leader.
It will be the same with us.
I've been thinking about this all week.
These words struck like a good arrow into the depths of my heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#3-To obey is better than sacrifice.
This was my own personal lesson.
Many people were up at the altar and I was back with
someone else during the prayer time.
I felt I should sit with this couple who seemed
confused by what was going on.
They are newer to the church.
I felt that I should sit beside them just to be with them.
But I didn't.
I kept on being partially involved with
the sacrifice at the altar.
And I am sorry that I missed it.
I hope I have another chance.
Because to obey is better than sacrifice.
2 comments:
Our pastor told us on Holy Thursday, preaching before he himself washed the feet of 12 parishioners, that in Jesus' day washing the feet was considered a sign of hospitality and grace. You were considered a bad host if you did not have your slave or servant wash your guest's feet. When Jesus took the towel, knelt and washed the feet of his disciples, he was donning the role of slave or servant to his followers. As for the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, that would have been considered the ultimate sign of remorse in his time. People walked miles through dung and dirt crusted street in sandals. To kneel and kiss his feet...now you get the picture of how sorry she must have been for her sins!
I didn't even consider this part of it-her sorrow for her sins. That's interesting. I thought more about how much she loved Him. BTW, our comments probably belong to the blog writing about the sinful woman. :) Thanks for sharing about your experiences on Holy Thursday as well.
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