The Glory
Speaker: Pastor Darin Browne
2 Chronicles 7:1-3
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’S house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
God is so good to us. We have had several changes over the last month or so, but already God has raised up leaders, and I am so excited. Ignite is heading in a new direction with our Life Groups and discipleship, and it’s uncharted Territory. We don’t have a map, we don’t have a GPS, but we are stepping into the future knowing that we should never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
Ignite has new leaders in place, it has people praying and reading the Bible Reading Plan, but what it needs more than anything else is the glory of God.
THERE’S A GLORY THAT COMES FROM THE STORY
Every one of us has a story, and we are all in different seasons, and have different stories. The Christian journey is a mixture of promises and pain. We will know victories, but also heartaches. We have all experienced difficulties along the way, but there’s a glory that comes from the story. Your story, however difficult, can be the foundation for God’s glory.
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
All things, even the painful, even the lonely, even the costly experiences in life, can open the way for God’s glory. God can take lemons and make lemonade every time. And He has shown me that there’s a glory that’s coming that is greater than anything we have ever seen before. We have experienced a freedom and an excitement in the last few weeks that is beyond anything we had experienced before. Pastor Rob Newton commented on the electric atmosphere.
THE GLORY FELL
2 Chronicles 7:1
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
At the commissioning of the first temple, fire came from heaven and God’s glory filled the place. It happened when Solomon prayed, and then the sacrifices were consumed.
Glory is Hebrew – KABOD, which means glory, honour and abundance. It’s also means weighty, so the glory of God is awesome, super abundant but also a wonderful burden.
When God’s glory shows up it is weighty, heavy, abundant and honourable. We have come through a season of fire, a season of being let down, abandoned, hurt, but I declare that when the fire falls, so does the glory of God.
The fire came to devour, and the glory came to dwell. For Solomon, was glory at the start of the service and glory at the close, and the glory stopped religiosity in its tracks.
2 Chronicles 5:14
the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
Those religious spirits cannot stand when the glory of God falls. Those spirits we have long contended with cannot stick around, because the glory is checking in.
GLORY IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER
But there could be no glory apart from the sacrifices that took care of the sins of the people. Most of us want the glory, but we resist the fire. Maybe you’ve been through fire in your life, we have as a church, but the glory is right around the corner!
The Queen of Sheba visited and was blown away by the glory of this temple.
1 Kings 10:7
I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.
If we want the world to take notice, we don’t need programs or lights or smoke machines or loud music, we need the glory of God manifest in our lives.
God doesn’t share His glory with anything. Demons, hatred, religious spirits, bitterness, sickness or sin, cannot dwell in His glory. This is what the Lord has revealed to me for our church. It’s a new season, it’s a new Jubilee, and we need to seek the KABOD, the glory of God above everything else.
WHAT BRINGS THE GLORY OF GOD DOWN?
The Israelites had had the ark of the covenant for centuries in a tent, a Tabernacle. But something changed when Solomon prayed at the opening of the temple? It wasn’t the glory of a building, his prayer brought down the glory of the Lord! So how can we prepare the way for God’s glory to truly fall upon us and transform our lives to see Kingdom Growth?
1: HOLY HANDS
Psalms 24:3-5
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
We must come with pure hearts if we are to see God’s glory. God cannot look upon sin, and He will not tolerate it. If you are wilfully and persistently sinning, you disqualify yourself from experiencing the glory of God. As a church, we must have pure hands! We cannot and must not tolerate sin in any form, we cannot compromise God’s standards to suit this sinful world. We must stand firm against evil and impurity with a holy, pure heart, whether it be on abortion, gender issues, sex, morality or any other issue.
2: UNWAVERING UNITY
Ephesians 4:1-3
walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Churches miss this all the time, because we think our opinion is so highly prized. If we want to see the glory of God, we cannot be constantly criticising and dividing each other. We cannot attack one another, be it in person, by text or on Facebook. Unity is so essential, but also fragile.
Psalms 133:1,3
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
I know I’m not perfect, and I know I make mistakes. When I do, I have people around me who lovingly challenge me, and I repent. Unity is not being a yes man. But listen, if I make a decision you don’t agree with, either swallow your pride and step into unity, or swallow your tongue and step out the door. If you love your own opinion more than you love other people, then I say in love, get out of the way, because God’s glory is coming!
3: HUNGRY HEARTS
Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Half hearted Christianity will never see the glory of God fall. I know some of you find it hard to get excited about church. You’ll scream the house down for a football match, but you’ll barely raise a sweat let alone your hands in church. If God’s glory doesn’t get you excited, your wood is wet!
But many of us are hungry for a genuine move of God. We are hungry to see His glory.
Psalms 63:1-2
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
If we are desperate for God, He will not let us down. He might test us, He might make us wait, but if we hunger for His glory, He will hear our cries.
4: PERSISTENT PRAYERS
We think prayer is about trying to get God to do what we want. Lord, I want to be healed. Lord, I want to be rich and I want to be successful. But prayer is not about manipulating God into a course of action, it’s about falling in love with Him, and falling on our faces in Holy worship. Prayer should be about Him, not us!
2 Chronicles 7:3
When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
If we want to see the glory of God, we need to persist until we do. We can’t give up on God because the church service ran too long, or my favourite show came on the TV.
Luke 18:1
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
He goes on to share the parable of the persistent widow and the unrighteous judge. The judge denied her request, but she kept going and never gave up until he granted her request. We have to want to see God’s glory so bad that we keep going, keep showing up, stay committed, keep worshipping, keep crying out, keep praying until we see is glory!
5: SELFLESS SACRIFICE
Solomons temple was built on the site of his dad’s threshing floor. In 1 Chronicles 21 we read of David’s sin for taking an unauthorised census, and the plague that God inflicted on his people as punishment. Seventy thousand people died of the plague in three days…
1 Chronicles 21:17
And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”
To stop the plague, David was told to offer a sacrifice on a threshing floor owned by a non-Israelite, Ornan the Jebusite. Ornan offered it for free.
1 Chronicles 21:22-24
And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the LORD – give it to me at its full price – that the plague may be averted from the people.” Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.” But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
YOUR TEARS ARE PRECIOUS
David went through some stuff. He had cried some tears and let me tell you that your tears are valuable. They are a seed for the glory of God.
Psalms 56:8
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
Some of you have cried a lot of tears of late, and they are not wasted. God collects them, cherishes them and seeds them to allow His glory to manifest in your life.
David said, “nothing is of value if I have not paid a price for it.” But your tears are a price. You will not be just given precious things of God for nothing. If you have to trust and fight for it, if you must sacrifice for it, it will be worth something.
THE PRICE OF AN OFFERING
1 Chronicles 21:26
And David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.
It is human nature to try and bargain for things, but it is not God’s nature. He wants devotion, not bargaining. David sacrificed on that threshing floor. He needed wood for the sacrifice, but if you know anything about fire, you will know that you cannot use fresh wood if you want it to burn. The best fire is with seasoned wood. Seasoned wood is not green, fresh or supple, it’s old, beat up, full of bugs and cracks and holes. Some of you here feel that way, I know I often do, like I’m beat up, cracked, kicked around and seasoned.
David walked away from that threshing floor with ashes, but these ashes became the foundation of the temple. You might think that the temple was built on wood or stone, but it was built on the ashes of David’s selfless sacrifice.
The glory of the church is built on the sacrifice and tears of Jesus Christ. As He hung on that cross offering the ultimate selfless sacrifice, He cried, “It is finished,” and the veil in the temple that was built on David’s sacrifice split from top to bottom. Jesus’ sacrifice revealed the glory of God to the whole of mankind!
WHAT PRICE THE GLORY OF GOD?
Our community doesn’t need flashier churches. It doesn’t need fancy rituals, or more programs, or more tolerant Christians so they can feel okay about their sin. What our people need is to see the glory of God in us, on us, around us and all over us.
2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We will never see Kingdom growth until we see His glory manifested in our lives. It’s time for fire to fall from Heaven and consume our sin and fill us with His glory. The question is, how bad do you want it? Are you prepared to be holy, hungry, in unity, persistent and selflessly sacrificing? The pain you’ve experienced, the tears you’ve cried, will you pour them our before God and cry out for His glory?
LET’S SEEK HIS GLORY
When God designs something, He can fill it with His glory. God designed the church. God designed this church. Will you join me in praying for His glory to fall right here, that we might…
1 Chronicles 16:24
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples!
I am crying out to God today, fill us with Your glory!
2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
Evangelism isn’t just words or a program; it’s shining His glory into this dark world. Will you join me today and step up a degree in glory? Who is hungry for God? Who will pay any price to see His glory? If you are hungering for God, if you are willing to sacrifice and stand in holiness and unity today, come forward and let’s worship together! Whatever your story behind the glory, don’t let those tears of sacrifice fall to the ground void. Let’s seek His glory together!