Building A Temple
Gtcotr/ss050204
In a moment we will be going to our text for today which will be found in the book of 1 Chronicles, Chapter 21
While you turn there let me read our key scriptures for today.
Key Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. (NIV)
A brief story of me playing the guitar and singing ’Know Ye Not Ye Are The Temple’ in front of the student center at Grambling State University, 1985. “My feeble attempt at cross cultural evangelism.”
I. 1 Chronicles 21
1 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
A. It could have been anyone
B. It could have been anything
C. But it was David, the leader of God’s people, King of Israel, a man after God’s own heart.
D. Tempted to stray from God’s will.
satan is a master destroyer - a master deceiver - from Adam & Eve to you - from David to Jesus - he tries to sow seeds of deception in the minds of every man, woman, boy & girl. (Daily weed them out)
satan is a master sower of corruptible seeds
not only is your body designed to be the temple of God but also, according to 1 Corinthians 3:9 … You are God’s garden …
Satan is master at sowing corruptible seeds which are designed to produce unrighteous weeds. He is your enemy!
Matthew 13
24 ¶ Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
Keep this in mind as we get back to 1 Chronicles 21
14 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the LORD looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, "It is enough; now restrain your hand." And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17 And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued."
18 ¶ Therefore, the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the LORD.
20 Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat.
21 Then David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground.
22 Then David said to Ornan, "Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the LORD. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people."
23 And Ornan said to David, "Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all."
24 Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing."
25 So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.
26 And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
27 So the LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.
28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.
29 For the tabernacle of the LORD and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon.
30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
22:1 ¶ Then David said, "This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel." (Deuteronomy 12:11 fulfilled)
Building the Temple of God in your life, begins by building an Altar in your life on the Threshing Floor of your life.
Don’t go offering the Lord that which costs you nothing.
II. What Is The Significance of ‘The Threshing Floor’
A. The Threshing Floor Is A Place Of Separation
1. The good from the bad
2. A place of pressure
3. A place of lifting it all up to heaven
4. A place where the Holy Spirit blows the chaff away
B. It Is A Place Of Separating The Good From The Bad
C. It is like weeding our garden
Since we are the garden of God and we are to build our lives as a sanctuary for God’s presence, we must purify our hearts and minds, winnow out the chaff, remove the corruptible weeds from among the fruit bearing plantings of the Lord.
It is just like weeding our garden. Let me share with you:
III. The Disciplines Of Weeding
A. Identify The Weed
1. Early as possible
2. Before the root develops and entangles itself around good things and you have to leave it until the harvest.
B. Destroy The Root
1. Not just the fruit
2. Pastor John Miller’s grandmother: “1 Year Seeding, 7 Years Weeding” (If we let the weed go to seed, it will take 7 years weeding)
C. Repair The Soil If Necessary
1. Be conscious of your soul, your hurt, your pain & disappointment
2. It could have provided a hole for a new seed to be planted
IV. The Best Way To Avoid Weeds In Your Garden
A. Put out a weed emergent.
B. Jesus was also tempted but used the word and prayer to neutralize the corrupted seeds
V. Are There Any Weeds In Your Garden Today?
A. God wants us to be His temple, His sanctuary
B. We cannot build a Holy House for God in an Unholy Heart
1. It takes a Threshing Floor Experience to purify our life
2. It takes ridding our life of the weeds of satan’s lies
C. God wants to separate the good from the bad in our life
D. Lets Give Him A Chance
1. Lift up your life, thoughts and deeds, to God
2. Let the Holy Spirit help you discover bad seeds and corruptible weeds
3. Destroy the roots
4. Repair your soul from the damage done
5. Cover yourself with God’s word as a protection from further corruption.
1 Corinthians 6
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.
