Participants:
Series Code: SSOS
Program Code: SSOS190009A
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00:01 Music...
00:25 Welcome to: The Sanctuary, Salvation and our Savior, 00:29 my name is David Shin 00:31 and thank you for joining us today 00:33 in another installment in our Series 00:35 of the study of the sanctuary 00:38 where we're looking at the significance and the relevance 00:41 of the sanctuary to our practical Christian lives. 00:45 I want to go to the screen here 00:47 because the focus of today's presentation 00:51 is another article of furniture in the sanctuary, 00:54 it is the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. 00:58 In the Holy Place, there are three articles of furniture: 01:02 The Table of Shewbread, 01:03 the Candlesticks 01:05 and the Altar of Incense. 01:08 In a brief review from our earlier presentations, 01:11 we noted that the sanctuary is a model 01:16 of God's plan of restoration to bring us back 01:20 to that relationship with Him. 01:22 Adam and Eve... before the fall, 01:24 were in the Most-Holy-Place experience, 01:26 they were in an intimate face-to-face encounter with God. 01:30 They could have a conversation with God as with a friend 01:34 but because of sin, this relational dynamic changed 01:39 and the entire human race was placed outside of the sanctuary 01:43 and God's plan is a plan of restoration... 01:47 it's a plan to bring us back... 01:49 to bring us into the Courtyard... 01:52 into the Holy Place 01:54 and into the Most-Holy-Place Experience. 01:58 The sanctuary is a model in Kindergarten form... 02:02 illustrating how God will restore Eden 02:06 back to the place that it was as in the book of Genesis. 02:10 So, you have the book of Genesis where Eden is lost... 02:14 you have the book of Revelation where Eden is restored. 02:18 So, God brings us into the Courtyard 02:21 and as we noted, the Courtyard experience 02:24 is where we receive the gift of God... 02:27 the gift of justification by faith. 02:30 We accept Jesus as our Savior and then we are baptized 02:35 and we can have the assurance of salvation in the Courtyard 02:41 and then God says, "I want you to walk with me, 02:44 I want you to grow with me, 02:45 I want you to journey with me into the Holy-Place experience 02:49 and as we noted in an earlier presentation, 02:52 it's not about how far you get, 02:54 it's about being in the process... 02:56 being in the journey... 02:58 He brings us to the Table 02:59 and gives us our spiritual nourishment. 03:03 He gives us what we need to grow in grace 03:06 and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 03:09 He brings us to the table. 03:10 Jesus said, "I am the bread of life... " 03:13 we feed on the Word of God 03:14 and then we come to the Altar of Incense 03:18 and there are three elements that are essential 03:21 for healthy Christian experience 03:24 after we have been made alive, 03:26 we stay alive by these three important entities 03:31 represented in the Holy-Place Experience. 03:34 We have the Table of Shewbread, we have the Altar of Incense 03:37 and the candlesticks... 03:38 the Table of Shewbread represents Bible Study, 03:42 the Altar of Incense represents our prayer life 03:45 and candlesticks represent our witness 03:48 and the sharing of the love of God with others. 03:51 Now, this experience is not meritorious, 03:55 in other words, I don't study my Bible 03:58 in order to earn my salvation, 04:00 I don't spend time in prayer in order to earn my way to heaven, 04:05 or I don't witness to get points with God 04:08 that is meritorious towards salvation, 04:10 no, these are all grace elements that God has provided 04:15 and made provision for us 04:16 to grow in our spiritual experience with Him. 04:19 Now, here's a tip... 04:21 and I want to mention this again, 04:23 because if you are noticing in your Christian experience, 04:27 after you've accepted Jesus, 04:29 that you're growing weak... 04:30 that you've lost your first love... 04:33 you can do a very quick diagnostic... a quick assessment 04:36 and ask yourself the question, "How's my prayer life?" 04:39 "How's my Bible Study?" 04:41 "Am I sharing my faith?" 04:43 and what you'll usually find 04:44 is at least in one of those areas... if not more... 04:47 you have begun to wane in one of those elements 04:50 and what you can do is say, 04:51 "Lord, create in me a deeper desire for you. " 04:56 You can ask God and say, 04:57 "Lord, help me to desire to spend time in prayer... 05:00 help me to desire to spend time in your Word 05:02 and help me to desire to share my faith with others 05:05 and give me that opportunity. " 05:07 In other words, we don't have to fabricate 05:09 this element of trying to... to manifest these... 05:15 these elements of the Christian, ah, Christian disciplines 05:19 as something that we need to do 05:20 by pulling ourselves by our own bootstraps, 05:22 God has given us everything including the desire to desire 05:27 to have Bible-Study time, 05:29 to pray and to share our faith. 05:32 We're focusing on the Altar of Incense 05:35 and the Altar of Incense represents our prayer life 05:39 mingled with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 05:41 In Psalm 141 verse 2, the Bible says, 05:43 "And let my prayer be set forth as incense 05:48 and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. " 05:54 Here the Psalmist says, "Let my prayer be as incense 05:59 and as we pray in the name 06:02 and in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 06:05 our prayers are acceptable to God. 06:08 We pray to the Father in the name of Jesus 06:13 and it doesn't matter how long 06:15 we may or may not have been a Christian, 06:18 we never come to God in our own name... 06:21 in our own merits... 06:23 in our own works. 06:25 We come to God because of the merits 06:27 and the blood of Jesus Christ 06:30 and mingled with the sweet aroma 06:33 of Christ's righteousness, 06:34 our prayers ascend like incense to God. 06:40 We never come to God because of our own works, 06:43 and the Holy-Place experience 06:45 specifically the incense is a reminder 06:49 that it doesn't matter how much you may have grown 06:52 as a Christian, 06:53 you may have come far in your journey, 06:55 but you can never come to the place where you say, 06:59 "I've arrived... and I come to God in my own name. " 07:03 No, no, no, you always come in the sweet aroma 07:08 in the incense of the name and the righteousness 07:12 of Jesus Christ 07:14 and that's why it's sweet to God... 07:16 it's not sweet to God because of my own works 07:18 and my own merits, 07:19 it's sweet to God because of the righteousness of Christ. 07:23 A sweet aroma to the Lord. 07:26 We're told that... 07:27 that prayer is the breath of the soul... 07:32 the secret of spiritual power. 07:37 Now, think about the implications of this metaphor. 07:40 Prayer is the breath of the soul. 07:44 In other words, the same way that we are dependent 07:49 on breathing physically, 07:52 is the same way that we are dependent 07:55 on prayer spiritually. 07:57 We need to pray as just as much as we need to breath. 08:02 Now, think about the implications of this, 08:03 you can go weeks without food, 08:07 you can go for a period of days without water, 08:12 but you can go only minutes without breathing. 08:16 Now, in my early adolescent years, 08:21 I... I had this ailment of asthma 08:25 and I would struggle to breath 08:29 when I would have these asthma attacks, 08:31 it was a terrible thing. 08:32 One time, I had an asthma attack 08:35 that lasted a whole week, 08:38 can you imagine, a whole week 08:39 where I'm just wheezing and struggling for every breath 08:42 and every time I would... huuuuuuhhhh... 08:44 try to get all my energies to get this breath into my body 08:48 just straining... 08:49 it made me realize how dependent I am as a human being on air 08:56 and my fear is that in our Christian experience 09:01 after we have been born again, 09:02 after we've praised God and said, 09:04 "Oh, I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord... " 09:06 and we come to Him just the way we are, 09:07 we're baptized... and afterwards we hold our breaths. 09:10 We don't breath anymore after birth, 09:13 Now, I remember distinctly the moment that my son was born, 09:19 praise God... successful birth... 09:23 he... he came out and your first concern 09:27 after birth is that first breath. 09:31 Not only in that first breath 09:32 but that... that baby continues to breath. 09:36 My son was born into this world 09:38 and he took that breath... ahuuuhhh... 09:40 and I just shudder to think 09:45 if my son would not have taken his first breath 09:49 after a successful birth. 09:52 In other words, Friends, it's one thing to be born 09:57 and birth is essential... 10:00 if there is no birth, there is no life 10:02 but breathing after birth 10:06 is as essential as being born. 10:10 In other words, you can be born again as a Christian, 10:13 but if you're not breathing... if you are not praying... 10:18 as prayer is the breath of the soul, 10:20 the secret of spiritual power, 10:22 it's like holding your breath after birth. 10:26 prayer is the breath of the soul, 10:29 we are dependent on prayer just as much 10:33 as we are dependent on air. 10:36 How's your prayer life today? 10:38 How is your breathing today? 10:41 Spiritually, God is calling us to pray 10:43 and here in the book, "Steps to Christ" 10:45 one of my favorite books and by the way, 10:47 if you have not read the book, "Steps to Christ" 10:49 I highly encourage you to read this book. 10:51 There's a whole chapter here on prayer 10:54 and it says, "Prayer is talking to God 10:56 as to a friend. " 10:58 In other words, prayer is not like this formal exercise, 11:04 now, there's a time for formal prayer 11:06 like in the worship service, 11:07 but prayer is not to be this formal conversation with God, 11:13 prayer is to be like a talking... 11:16 a conversation with your most intimate friend... 11:19 your most intimate person in the world. 11:23 Now, when I talk to my parents, 11:25 I don't go to my dad and mom and say, 11:28 "Oh thou that providest for my food... 11:31 thou that bore me into this world... 11:34 thou that providest my education. " 11:36 My parents would be like, 11:37 "What's the matter with you, son? 11:39 This is Mom and Dad. " 11:40 Now, this is not to say that we should be disrespectful 11:44 in our prayer life, 11:45 but we should be vulnerable... 11:48 we should be authentic... 11:50 we should be real in our prayer life. 11:54 Prayer is talking to God as to a friend. 11:57 Your most intimate conversations... 12:00 the bearing of your soul to God should be your prayer life. 12:04 You should tell God everything that is on your heart 12:07 and on your mind. 12:08 It is the epitome... the quintessential example 12:13 of what intimacy and connection with another being should be 12:19 and that is your prayer life... 12:21 talking to God as to a friend. 12:24 not a formal, sterile exercise where you're fake and not real, 12:28 and not showing a person your real needs. 12:30 If you talk to a person on the street and say, 12:32 "What's it like?" 12:33 And he'll say, "How are you doing?" 12:35 "Fine... " 12:36 "Beautiful day isn't it? Wonderful weather... " 12:39 it's all superficial 12:40 but there was intimate people in our lives... 12:43 you ask them... or they ask you... 12:48 "How are you doing?" 12:49 And they tell you... 12:50 or you tell them... "I'm not doing well at all, 12:54 terrible, as a matter of fact, 12:56 I've really been struggling today. " 12:59 And this is what our prayer life can be. 13:02 You can go to God and say, "Lord, I'm struggling today, 13:07 I'm having a hard time... 13:09 as a matter of fact, Lord, ah hmmm... 13:13 I don't even want to pray today, 13:16 I'm struggling with my Bible Study, 13:18 I'm struggling with sharing my faith, 13:20 this is who I am... help me... 13:23 help me to be willing to be made willing. 13:26 Give me the desire to desire. " 13:30 You can come to God in your prayer life 13:32 as who you really are, 13:35 and it's the safest place you can be 13:37 because God will never reject your prayers. 13:41 I want to encourage you as we continue in our study 13:45 to... to reflect on how prayer is the breath of the soul... 13:50 the secret of spiritual power. 13:51 We're going to take a short break, 13:52 we'll be right back, 13:54 stay with us as we continue our study 13:56 on prayer. |
Revised 2019-10-08