God's Temple Today

If you had time last week to study the passages I gave to you, you know there's a vast difference in the temples used to worship God. Solomon's temple was ornate, beautiful and closed to everyone except the priest. The priest had the responsibility of offering sacrifices and being a bridge between God's people and God himself. The temple was designed to be a dwelling place for God and therefore a completely holy dwelling.

However, 1 Peter 2 gives us a different picture of God's temple today. There are no walls, no gold coverings or ornate decorations. God's temple today is nice! We are his dwelling place on the earth! The temple is as
beautiful or as ugly as we make it. There is no separation between us and God. In our worship together as a church family we enter directly into the presence of our God. In our daily lives we carry with us the seal of the Holy Spirit as we serve God daily. We are the priest that represent God on this earth.

God's Holy Temple

When we examine the history of God's people, the temple becomes a very important figure of God's presence. We are the church living in the middle between the early followers of God and the future glory we will have in heaven. To get a more accurate picture of our relationship with God we need to examine His Temple. It is important to see how the Temple of God changes during the history of human existence.

There are three unique pictures of God's Temple presented in the Bible. First, there is the temple under the old covenant. Then there is the temple presented by the apostles in the New Testament. The final representation of the temple is in heaven as presented by John in Revelation.

God's Children Looking Forward To An Inheritance!

"For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to promise." Galatians 3:28, 29

There are powerful thoughts in this short passage of scriptures  that impact our lives for eternity.

1. Faith leads us directly to baptism and at that moment we put on Christ.
2. When we put on Christ we are all one as a part of His family.
3. As a part of His family we have the promise of an eternal inheritance.

Dads Are Important!

We have a number of great dads in this congregation. When I look around the congregation I see both fathers and mothers that love their children and are working hard to raise them in the Lord. I pray that this week you will take a moment to look at the instructions given in Deuteronomy Chapter 6.  Allow these thoughts to control the activities in your home.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all  your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Dean