Jesus Bought A House - Part 8 | Pastor Paul McGee

Amen. Serving the Lord would do that

for you. I know there are a lot of

different religions in the world.

Thank you, Trevor. A lot of different religions in

the world and some almost cause more of an incarceration than

they do at Freedom. You don't find that in the Lord.

Amen. He sets us free by His Spirit.

Amen. In the scripture says he that

the Son has set free is free indeed, Amen.

Just a few announcements tonight.

Please remember this coming Sunday, This coming Sunday kicks

off the Sunday school campaign initiative, Amen.

So just be mindful of that going into this Sunday.

And I'm sure that you've been working this week to invite

people or those that are on your team to ensure that they are

here and accounted for, Amen, on Sunday.

So remember that, Amen. Also remember if anyone desires

to, there is a World Missions Rally in Bloomington IN Friday

and Saturday this weekend at Shiloh Temple, Pastor Ryan

Marshall, something that we do annually within the district,

have a World of Missions rally there, Amen.

And so that service begins at 7:00 on on Friday in in

Bloomington. So keep that in mind as well.

Also next Wednesday, next Wednesday, there will be

brackets here ready for the cardinal side of March Madness,

which is the the basketball competition.

And so there'll be brackets here and all those brackets will need

to be turned into Brother Malone by midnight that that Wednesday

because first round and everything starts the very next

day. And so please be mindful that,

and that's for whosoever will male, female, child, whatever.

Maybe maybe they're going to whisper to you and gag, gag, goo

goo. Maybe Piper's going to fill one

out. I don't know, you know, But

nonetheless, everybody can be involved in that.

And then the very last Sunday of this month, which is 1/5 Sunday,

we're going to have Pastor David Scott from Sullivan.

He'll be here ministering in that service.

And since that is a service where we'll all be in here, all

of our classes will be in here. I think I'm going to piggyback

on that service and let that be when we burn our mortgage on

that Sunday morning with everybody together and celebrate

that too. And maybe go down memory lane

just a little bit. Amen with that.

Amen. OK.

And so that'll be good as well. I'm going to turn to 1st Kings

55. And this is strictly just a, a,

a leap off point for us tonight. Strictly just a leap off point.

First Kings 55 in the month of October and throughout some of

the end of the year on Sunday mornings, we did some things

talking about how we are the temple of God and Jesus bought a

house type of scenario. And so I'm continuing with that.

We did like 7 lessons before we ever got here tonight.

This is lesson #8 All right, want to talk a little bit more

about that? We talk about our holy God and

then that impact then on our lives.

Amen, As we live here below. Amen.

Also, just a special note, just since I'm standing here,

tomorrow is Trevor's 17th birthday.

He'll be 17 years old tomorrow. And this church in this city is

all the Trevor's ever known. Different from Mariah, she's had

a little bit more, but this is all that he's ever known.

And so you all been his family. You've watched him grow up from

just a child to what he is now. And I asked him last night, I

asked him to talk to me and said, tell me about your day.

So he started telling me about his day.

And there's something he said that spawned something on my

mind I was going to share back. And he said, oh, wait a minute,

you're interrupting. You want to hear about my day?

And I never did get to say what I was going to say.

That's all right. We love our Trevor.

Amen, for sure. And so this is all he's ever

known. A few years ago, my family was

down to Louisiana. I was preaching a camp meeting

down there and he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

And so I've always tried to take my family anywhere and

everywhere I could go. When I go somewhere, they're

usually with me, if at all possible, all of them,

especially in the summer, those summer camp meetings going to

take them. And so he's been a traveling

companion to me when no one else could go.

We went to New Mexico together and went from there over to

North Carolina together and just so on and so forth.

And he's a good traveling companion most of the time, as

long as there's chicken and great abundance.

Amen. First Kings chapter #5 and verse

#5 the Bible says, and behold, I purpose to build.

This is Solomon speaking. And behold, I purpose to build a

house, and to the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake

unto David, my father, saying, thy son, whom I will set up on

thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name,

Amen. So tonight I want to talk to us.

Tonight this holiness is like a house.

Holiness is like a house, Amen. Let's ask the Lord to help us.

Father, I thank you, Jesus again, God, for those who have

gathered in, Lord, out of this weather tonight, Lord, into this

house, God, that we consider our lives around your word.

God. It's upon this word, Lord, that

we are built and we are instructed and someday we'll be

judged by and we're grateful, Lord, for your word.

I pray, O Lord, open our minds and I understand you for the

next little while and will not fail to thank you for it.

In the name of Jesus Christ that I pray, Amen.

You may be seated tonight, Jesus name.

And if anybody thinks Genesis is totally gone, it's not OK Amen.

It'll probably play back and forth with Jesus by the house.

All right, a little bit. I started here tonight as a

launch point because Solomon following in the footsteps of

his father. Most of us know according to

God's Word that David was not able or was not allowed to build

a house for the Lord. Too much bloodshed in his

lifetime. But his son Solomon would be the

one that would build a house unto the Lord.

He would build a literal right, a literal house unto the Lord.

However, as he had that that that desire to do so.

Solomon building God a literal house today.

I know that we have churches and edifices and things like we have

here tonight. That's for the purpose of the

Lord. But every single one of us are

also trying to establish a house, all right, a house, a

temple with our lives, a House of holiness for that matter, our

lives unto the Lord. And so holiness in many regards

is like a house. And the reason why I say that is

sometimes we we treat or we approach holiness through the

means of just looking at lifestyles and standards, which

in many regards is kind of like the exterior furnishings of

sheetrock and stuff on the framework and the siding on the

outside of a house. And we never look at the

framework and the foundation of the house.

And whenever you do that, I think you get a a misconstrued

idea really about what all is involved because if I could

relate it in almost an analogy type purposes that the standards

of holiness that that we exemplify in our lives are

dependent or hung up on the framework of some principles.

All right, some principles that are derived from a foundation

that are that is the the the characterization of the

attributes of God himself. And so they they kind of find

their weight bearing on all of these things.

So if I were to do it for analogy purposes tonight by the

reefs. I would say that the foundation

of this house are the attributes and the characterizations of our

God. That's the foundation of this

holy house. Amen.

And then upon squarely upon that foundation, you, if you have

any, you know, concept of construction.

Squarely upon that foundation are these two by 4 structured

members that create the skeletal wall of the house.

I would liken that to the principles of God, the

principles of holiness that come from the attributes of God, and

then finally all the application of those principles of the

framework. Again, I would relate to the

interior and the exterior finishes like the sheetrock and

the siding and the all that that goes on the House both inside

and outside. But the important thing is this

the, all the invisible parts of the house that you cannot see

with the natural eye are, are supported by the visible.

They are supporting the visible parts.

All those things that, that foundation, you can't usually

see much of it. Maybe the ground comes up to a

certain degree or those two by fours within the wall.

You can't see unless you've had a oops in your house, right?

And, and those things are discovered.

All of those things, those invisible parts are supporting

the visible parts of the house. And then the Bible tells us the

Old Testament concerning just a couple of stories that you're

familiar with perhaps, and that is Noah and the ark, what's

known as Noah's Ark, and also the Tabernacle in the

wilderness, which is known as the Tabernacle of Moses.

Both of these, both of these things that were constructed,

the ark and the Tabernacle were constructed according to God's

design, according to the material, according to the

dimensions, all of it was according to God's design.

And so when we begin to look at that, these things that were

according to God's design, His material, His vision, Amen.

Even our own lives, which we have looked at before and I'll

stayed over and over again, Acts chapter 20 tells us our lives

Acts 20 · chapter mention

have been purchased by His own blood, Amen.

The blood of Christ has purchased our lives.

It is purchased these temples that has purchased these houses.

And with that in mind, since this belongs to God, God then

has some specifications for these temples.

He has specifications for these houses.

The Bible says in First Corinthians 6 and verse 19 that

your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and it says

explicitly that ye are not your own.

You are not your own. We've looked at this in past, I

know we slept several times since then, but we are not our

own. I do not belong to myself, I

belonging to him. Amen.

And so the things that happen in my life should do, if you will,

represent the one who owns me, all right, represent the one who

bought me. And so holiness in many ways is

like a house. And so with that, the foundation

of this house that I'm talking about, that this holy, holy

structure is built upon are the attributes of God.

The foundation of this holiness thing is all about God's

personality, God's character and God's purpose.

It's all about him. He is the base of this house.

We see that even to a certain degree.

And the writer that Paul, the letter that Paul rat to wrote to

the church at Corinth in first Corinthians 3 and verse #11 he

said quite plainly, for other foundation can no man lay, then

that is laid which is Christ Jesus.

That foundation is about him. It's about his, his personality,

his character, his purpose. It's all about him and what we

know. What we know about our God is

our God is immutable. Or said differently, our God

changes not He's an unchanging God.

That means whatever God was in eternity past, he is the same

today and he will be the same tomorrow.

He is unchanging. And so that tells me that my

holy God, the holy one that Isaiah says over and over again,

holy one, my God, which is a holy one or a holy God, that

changes not. And since that's the foundation

of this house, I can rest assured that holiness is

consistent because of what its foundation is.

It is consistent, Amen. And so God, much unlike parents

sometimes in our real world today, God's not going to be

swayed by His children stomping and complaining, all right?

To change His mind or to accommodate their whim.

You've all seen it. There's been times you've been

in the store in little Junior's hand.

Mommy, I want that toy. And she's like, no, Junior, not

Mommy, I want that toy. And before you know it, Junior's

crying, screaming, and he's making a mess of things and what

does he do? And he's leaving the store with

what? The toy.

God's not like that. He don't give in to our whims.

No, no, no he does not. He does not give in to our

stomping or complaining because there might be something that

that he has or have asked of us as being the owner.

Amen. That that, that we are not, you

know, do not care for or do not yet see or understand or with

clarity the purpose of Second Corinthians chapter #3 and verse

18 says, But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass

the glory of the Lord. But it doesn't stop there.

We just don't recognize that we don't just take that in.

The Bible says that we are changed into the same image from

glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, which makes

great sense. So I, I, I, I look an open face

into this glass, the glory, and I see that, but it's not just

recognizing that, but there comes a change because of the

Spirit that I've received inside of my life.

We can all attest to the fact that the Spirit that you

received didn't feel you. He didn't feel you with His

Spirit to leave you in the same condition that you were in,

Amen. That's not God's purpose for his

Spirit in your life. Just to endorse where you are in

your walk of life. He's to bring you on a journey.

He's to bring you on a journey, Amen.

And as that journey goes, we are changed from glory to glory,

changed into the same image as he is.

And here's the thing, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not going to reach that

here in this life, Amen. But if I continue in a forward

motion and God's Spirit is in me, when the trumpet sounds, I

shall be like him. The Bible says it does not yet

appear what we shall be, but we shall be like Him.

I will have an ultimate change. Amen to into the image.

Amen of that glory that I once looked upon.

We're changing to the image of the Lord.

Amen. And that's important because

He's not changed into my image. I'm changed into His image, I'm

changing to his image. And so it's all of those

attributes, that personality and purpose.

That's the very foundation of this House of holiness.

But upon that foundation there is framework, there are walls

and there are construction of two by fours and things of this

framework that rests squarely upon that foundation.

And so then the brunt of the weight of this house is

supported there. God's attributes, His purpose,

His personality, His character supports all the weight of His

principles. Amen.

That there are listed in Scripture.

And when we look in Scripture, sometimes Scripture gives us a

precept, meaning it's a very detailed, specified point of

order and instruction. And then there are other times

that Scripture gives us a principle which is a little bit

more general, but that generality is still to be used

to help guide different actions in our life under different

circumstances, in situations. For instance, tonight let's just

look at something very general, something very natural, Amen.

And that is this, the law of gravity.

Law of gravity very well be a natural principle of our world.

Now, there's some here that may be able to, maybe not, but some,

maybe most of us couldn't stand up right now tonight and explain

all of the intricate scientific details behind the law of

gravity. Might not be able to, but we

still understand the basic principle of the law of gravity,

that everything seems to fall or at least to be drawn to the

ground or to the earth, right? I mean, I'm standing here right

now. The reason why some things are

sagging, it's because the law of gravity is at work.

It's pulling things to the ground.

And so we apply that principle, although we have a limited

knowledge of it, might not be able to explain all the

scientific reasoning behind it, we have a general understanding

of that and we accept the reality of that principle and

apply it. By brother Zach.

I'm not not going to go out and go to some high roof area on

some house and leapfrog off. I'm not going to go to the top

of some tree around here and leapfrog off of that tree.

All right. Yet at the same time, I

understand I can easily maneuver from the curve down to the

sidewalk or bat vice versa. I understand that.

Amen. But I understand that there's

this, everything's being pulled toward the ground.

And so I applied the principle of nature by restricting jumping

from high surfaces in this world.

I'll take a jump maybe off of a park, the bench, but I'm not off

the top of a house because gravity is the principle.

It tells me things are going to fall.

But the in my mind, the thou shalt not jump from high

surfaces becomes my standard, becomes my standard.

That's supported by a principle. And so within the framework of

holiness, there are a few, and there's probably more than what

I'll even share with you tonight, but there are a few

eternal principles throughout God's Word and in God.

And they're eternal because they originate with God.

And since they originate with God, God is eternal.

He knows neither beginning of days nor ending of days.

They are eternal. And some of these things that

relate to God is this. They relate to this, these

principles, they relate to who God is which which, which comes

to God's identity. They relate to what he is like,

again relating to his character. And they relate to what God is

all about, His purpose. And so these principles are

derived from God, from his attributes.

And so here are some of the attributes that principles then

are are derived from #1 the identity of God, the identity of

God. God is, and he did become the

creator. He is the God of creation.

He is the one true God. He is the only God.

He said there is no other. I see none beside me.

There's none to compare to Him. And because of this, he stands

apart from everything else that has been created or from any

other so-called gods that stated in our world.

And here's the fact of the matter, God, his identity to

himself is a little meaningless if he did not create, because

whenever he created, that's what made him then the creator to all

of us that would be created by him.

And so God, he exists independent.

Nothing else made him, nothing else formed him.

He's independent. And so his identity gains a new

meaning through the act of creation.

He became our Creator, Amen. And he is the Lord of his

creation. And furthermore, in the history

of the book of the Bible, he becomes the Redeemer to sinners.

And so there is a attribute of God, it is his identity that we

begin to have principles of identity that show up then in

lifestyles of identity for us. Another attribute of God is the

love of God. Aren't you glad you have a God

that loves? A God that loves God is not

self-centered. Your God's not self-centered.

I mean it only takes a few little cursory reading the

scripture to understand your God's not self-centered.

I mean the well-being of humanity was on God's mind at

Calvary. If he was self-centered he came

off the cross and said they made their bed.

Ain't lying in it. No, but He was willing to

sacrifice for others. But His love really gets some

traction and gains some meaning again through His creation,

because as God was alone before creation, there was nothing else

to love. But whenever He created you, now

there's places to dispose His love upon.

And He did lavishly. That's an attribute of God, His

love. But they'll be principles of

love. Then where standards of love

come in place, another attribute of God.

I got to run. Amen is the authority of God,

right? God as the creator of all

things, He holds them the authority over everything He has

made. He's the creator, so he has

authority over his creation. He's the Lord of all.

And again, it gains great meaning because he did the act

of creation. When God existed all alone by

himself in the abyss of nothingness.

Amen. There was nothing for him to

exercise per say, authority as far as the individual over, but

he exercised his authority over the nothingness and brought

material into the world and even us into the world.

And so that's another attribute of God.

Another attribute of God is the beauty of God.

God embodies all the essence of beauty, everything eternally

ever, even as an invisible spirit.

It's beautiful. His beauty.

Again, it's not just displayed through external features as it

did when he was a man walking among us as Jesus Christ, but

all of his moral attributes and virtues and character qualities.

How many times you said they're, I tell you what, they're just

beautiful on the outside and the inside.

And like, I scratch my head, like, when's the last time

you've seen their organs, you know?

But they're talking about just the personality, the makeup, the

characterization of that person, the beauty of God.

That becomes a foundation that some principles are built and

standards are hung on the modesty of God.

What's the modesty of God? God would be modest here.

It is because God does not do everything He has the power to

do. He exercises restraint.

He's not impulsive or indulgent. He avoids excess.

He remains modest in those things.

He's temperate. He's full in control of himself.

And so this restraint makes God very secure, very peaceful.

You don't have to worry about feeling anxious or agitated,

huh? His spirit's tranquility enables

him to have perfect clarity in his thoughts and his intentions.

The modesty of God comes. Principles of modesty comes

lifestyles of modesty. Another attribute of God is the

integrity of God. God is whole all by himself.

All of his thoughts, his attitudes, his words, his

actions, they perfectly align with one another.

God doesn't contradict himself. So with himself he's not double

minded, He's not acting in a way that's opposing himself.

He involves, he involves just perfect, perfect integrity.

That's attribute to God, another attribute I'm getting there.

And we again, there's probably more, but the salvation of God.

Before time began, God had a plan, not just for companionship

in the garden, not just for creating humans, but even a

plan. The Bible says in the Book of

Revelation, he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the

world. He had a plan to become flesh

and blood for the saving of the creation that he made in the

garden. Amen.

And even the offering of eternal life is not an afterthought to

God. God has a plan of salvation.

And so it reflects in the idea God, he wasn't going to be

alone, so he made Adam and Eve. And at the core of the story of

God is the attribute of God going to be a saving God always.

And so from just these attributes, they, they, they

form a very good foundation for a house where we can have

principles from Scripture of all these different things,

principles of identity, principles of love, principles

of authority, so on and so forth.

And these principles, this framework, they are going to

support the finished surfaces of the house that I convey to you

as standards or lifestyles of living.

The principles are the underlying reasons for the

standards. The principles are the why we

have the standard, but then the principle is leaning upon an

attribute of God. Why are you saying this?

But McGee, I'm saying this because again, sometimes we go

straight to all the furnishings of the exterior and anterior of

the walls. And when we don't know the

meaning of the purpose that it all trickles back down to

attribute of God. Then there's this great void in

our hearts and minds about the validity, the validity of what's

in and outside of these furnishings, our understandings,

our ability, even Brother Mason, sometimes to embrace these

things. There's a void in a gap when we

don't understand well that hinges up on this principle, and

that principle hinges on this attribute of God.

Amen. Just like math.

I know there's people here that's good at math and there's

people here bad at math. Let's just.

Say you've never been. Exposed to math and all of a

sudden you decide, you know what?

I'm just going to jump right in here to some algebraic

equations. Well, that would be great,

wouldn't it? You just go jump right in it.

You've never been exposed to math in your life.

Well, you're going to be a little confused.

How do you solve for X when you don't know how to add, multiply,

divide, subtract? What are those?

Those are basic building blocks of mathematics.

Principles, if you might say A. Mathematics, you want to get

here. You're confused, you're

scratching your head and you're saying, well, this is silly.

But it makes. More sense if you go back and

see what it's all hinged on, what it's.

All. Based on so we ain't going to

leapfrog into that. We got to take time to

appreciate the fundamentals, to understand how if you're a math

nerd, how marvelous it is when you get to the algebraic place

that this thing works out and you can solve for X.

Because people without fundamentals of certain things,

you know what we do? We memorize the rules without

appreciating why something is honored.

I mean if I see you do the. Algebraic problem enough times I

can pick up maybe on the the steps or the order of the form

and I just do it through memory. But I have no.

Appreciation for why it's like that, I think that's important.

So when we talk about applying the principles that interior,

that exterior the finishes, that that's where I in my estimation,

that's where perfecting holiness really comes into interpretation

at the application level, Mr. David Hustin said.

He said it's one thing to understand the principle, it's

another thing to act on it. God.

God is. Concerned about his house.

He's concerned about the interior in the exterior, right?

For one, he lives inside this house and for two, we've said it

before, everybody else sees the exterior of this house.

The Bible says in first Corinthians 6 and #2 and verse

21 that's paired with we read verse 19 just a little while

ago. It says for year bought with a

price. Therefore, glorify God in your

air by say and. In your.

Which are. So your spirit just isn't.

God's, your body and your spirit is God's.

God wants both. He wants both for the purpose of

expressing His values and His purposes as the owner occupant

of the house. Amen.

In everyday homes, you know how it is.

You have neighbors, you have friends, relatives, enemies,

whatever you have. But in everyday homes, some have

very well kept exteriors and poorly kept interiors.

And sometimes that thing. Is they want to impress people.

And just let the inside be what? Are the inside is as long as it

looks good to people on the outside, then there's others

that have very well kept the interiors and poorly kept the

exteriors because they just kind of got some chip in their

shoulder. I don't care what people think.

Whatever. Nonetheless, a home's appearance

conveys its values. God being the owner.

Of these houses, this is just God.

He wants other people to get the right impression.

Because he cares about our. Body and our spirit, because

they're His. For God.

An inward sense of of modesty would be reflected in a outward

appearance of modesty because. He don't contradict.

Himself, right, Going back to one of his attributes, the

integrity of God, He don't oppose himself.

Why would he have the inside of the house opposing the outside

of the house or the outside of the house opposing the inside of

the house? The integrity, the attribute of

the integrity of God would not permit that.

But there is somebody that's a cheat may really be revealing

some lack of inward honesty. Inward many times impacts

outward. Matthew 23, I've.

Read this before listen it's it's like rehearse it in their

ears. Moses OK God Matthew 23 and

verse 25 Jesus says want to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites

for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but

within they are full of extortion and excess.

Verse 26 thou blind the Pharisee cleanse first.

This is Jesus saying this cleanse first, that which is

within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean

also. Now this is Christ.

He says you've done this exterior cleansing and let the

interior excess extortion. It's corrupt.

This was Christ's works. He said clean first the inside,

clean first the inside, what's within and know what he says

that the outside may be clean also.

Amen. He's he's making a note here

that if you'll, if you'll clean the inside, it's going to have

impact start already have an impact on the outside.

I I've done this, I I've said this, I've probably said this

illustration. I don't know how many times in

my life, but man, there's some days back before, you know, the

good old dishwasher days, you wash dishes by hand.

I still sometimes get. Wrinkle fingers, Sister Missy

cleaning some dishes every once in a while, and before you had

those little nice little brush things you can plunge down in

there you had an old rag and your hand.

I take that old rag and. I get that water, that soapy

water, and I'm plunging in the inside of that cup or that

glass. Guess what water and suds is

already getting on the inside by me cleaning on the outside by me

cleaning the inside. If I'm careful, I could.

Properly probably clean the outside of the cup without it

affecting the inside. For that matter, how many times

have you got a cup from the cupboard that it looked good

until you about ready to pour something in?

It's like, oh, the dishwasher didn't do good.

Very judge you. Know what I'm talking about,

Holly? You've had to put that glass

back in the dish more than once in my house.

Christ says clean first, that which is within that the outside

of them may be clean also, He says.

You know what he said You all been attempting to clean the

outside first, He said. And then that left the inside

unaffected. So I'm telling you to clean the

inside first, Ladies and gentlemen, This is why listen to

pastor. This is why it's important in

your journey for the Lord to concentrate on receiving the

baptism of the Holy Ghost, God's Spirit.

That needs to be the very thing that your mind, your heart, your

life is focused upon. When you first come to church,

you need to be focused on getting filled with the Spirit

because that's a cleansing that takes place on the inside, too.

Many have come and try. To try to if you will alter

externals, if you way will the way they talk or where they go

with this all these different external things of their life

and never receive the Holy Ghost.

Never. Receive the Holy Ghost.

And so they got all the appearance of men, but man,

they're, they're doing great, but their soul is corrupt.

They have not the spirit of. Christ.

No, no, no, let. God get inside of you, let His

Spirit come inside of you, let Him clean the inside of you.

And I'll guarantee you this almost like a byproduct of being

cleaned on the inside. There's going to get some suds

and waters and cleanliness that's going to start happening

on the outside, but you need to be laser focused on the internal

cleansing. You'll live a Christian.

Experience frustrated. Trying to fix up everything on

the. Inside and leaving the on the

outside and leaving the inside unimpacted you front.

Your straight yourself to. No, no end.

Remember again, we've looked at Psalm, the Old Testament

whenever he had the dynamic change in his life and he was

going to he was going to be he was anointed to be Israel's next

king and and then again he came among the prophets that time.

The Bible says he began to prophecy and people that knew

him a four time said, you know, is, is that is that come the son

of Kish? Is this the same man?

They noticed some external differences, but before that

ever took place. You can read it in the book of

Samuel before that ever took place and they noticed those

external differences. The Bible says that God gave him

another heart. God did a work on the inside of

him and it affected them, the appearance and the outside of

him, so that people scratched their head and said, is that the

same person? Is that not because Saul did

everything on the outside, but God, it didn't work on the

inside and that had an impact on the outside?

And Amen. It all matters, yes.

Jesus said in Luke 11. 40 The harmony of the Gospels, right,

same story, same context, just in one of the other different

gospels, Jesus said, ye fools, he's speaking to the Pharisees

because the Pharisees are the people, right?

They wear the long robes, they say the long prayers, they look

all pious before the people. They dress the part, speak the

part, but they got a lot of stuff inside that's excess and

extortion and. And so he said, ye fools.

Speaking to them, just remember he's the one that they he called

hypocrites. What's a hypocrite trying to

appear one thing when they're really not that just playing a

role? He said, ye fools.

Did not he that made the witch is without make that which is

within also? You know what he's saying?

He says I've made both. They both matter, Pharisees, not

just what your external performance is.

They both matter. Jesus wasn't asking the question

to get an answer for sure. He made them both.

He knew he made both. He says but you need to cleanse

the inside first because that the outside may be cleansed

also. It's going to impact it.

We look for instance. Back at that Old Testament

Tabernacle, that Tabernacle in the wilderness, a lot of the

externals are meant to reflect internal values.

These old bodies, this old. Flesh and blood, who we are,

they're to reflect that. But I'd even tell you today that

they even have some limitations in their ability to fully

showcase the glory and the power of what's inside this We have a

the Bible says a glorious treasure in this old earthen

vessel. It's hard for the full glory and

power of the treasure to be known.

Just by the externals, the Bible says in Exodus 25 verses 8-9,

Exodus 25:8–9

this is Jesus speaking to the Old Testament Israel.

He said, let them make me a sanctuary, that I may do well

among them. Verse 9 according to all that I

shew thee after the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern

of all the instruments thereof. Even so shall ye make it really

what we find here. He said there is a pattern for

the Tabernacle. Amen.

And I'm relating to that as the externals and the pattern of the

instruments, because they are the furnishings, the inside of

the Tabernacle. See, inside the Tabernacle you

had some precious things, woven material of scarlet and purple

and, and, and, and blue and, and, and threads of gold that

was interwoven in there. And you had, you had a pure

gold, you know, lampstand. And you had a table of, of shoe

bred and you had this golden altar of incense.

All of these precious things inside you, you had the

brilliance of the light of the lampstand and you had the

incense that was coming up off that golden altar inside the

Tabernacle, all of these wondrous, glorious things.

But on the outside, the Bible said that you had some ramskins

and badger skins. I mean the the very exterior of

the Tabernacle was badger skins according to Scripture.

Those badger skins are. Shelded shielding some more, the

delicate layers that's beneath them, some of the fine linen and

goat's hair, keeping the sun off of it and the rain off of it and

blowing sand of the desert off of it.

They're tanned hides there. They're a little tough, they're

a little water resistant, a little sun resistant surfaces.

That's if I can say like this, they're preserving the inner

beauty of the Tabernacle over time just to the common man.

Common man might just chalk it up.

So you know what? Those badger skins, just kind of

visually plain, ordinary. Someone might say, Oh yeah,

they. Are a little bit, but you know

what they're doing. They're protecting the inward

sacredness of the Tabernacle. I'd rather reach what I am not

saying because I don't want to be misconstrued here, but I'm

not saying, well, brother, McGee said we could just go around,

leave her cell phone camp, don't use the odor to fix your hair,

brush your teeth. And that's what I got out of his

message tonight. But I am not saying.

That you don't have the odor to come see me.

I'll buy you something. I'm I am not saying that, but

what I am saying is we don't have to draw attention to

ourselves. Amen.

We don't have to have some type of outward show just for the

purpose of the purpose of just trying to impress other people.

The man Christ. Jesus, the man Christ Jesus,

more than likely just by his appearance, would not have

caught our eye. Mr. David Hudson says.

This and this is based upon God's Word, and I'll take you to

the Word after He says what He says.

He said there was nothing repulsive about His appearance,

but just nothing particularly flamboyant or attractive about

it either. What Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 53 and

verse 2 Speaking of, of the appearance of the Messiah, the

Messiah that would come, it said, for He shall grow up

before Him as a tender plant and as a root of dry ground.

He hath no form just Speaking of the Messiah.

This is Speaking of Jesus Christ.

You have no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there

is no beauty that we should desire him.

Wow says he has no form. The word form there means

basically there, there is no visage or, or no, no, no, you

know, intricate appearance. He there is no comeliness or

there's no magnificence or splendor such as that of a king.

This is how he fooled us all, right?

Because he came as the king, but he didn't put off as though he

was the king. If so, the.

Stable wouldn't have been the choice for birth.

Bible says he has no. No, no beauty that we should

desire him. In other words, there is no

sight or there's no phenomenon, there's no spectacle that we

should desire him. Yet when he meets his walking in

life in the New Testament is Christ Jesus the man.

Christ Jesus, people say, never a man spake like this man.

He don't. He looks ordinary, but never a

man spake like this man. Where'd that come from?

The Gospels tells us. For from the abundance of the

heart the mouth speaketh. Of what?

What? What's going on here?

There's something, there's something different about this

man. Jesus was just an ordinary man

by all appearances, but he is full of power.

Huh. What did he say?

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld

his. As the only begotten of the.

Full of grace in what? He's full of power.

He's full of glory. You know, when probably these

limited bodies of humanity, there was a crossing of the veil

where the capacity of the real glory and power of Christ was

absolutely seen through the humanity of Christ on Mount

Transfiguration, as Peter and James and John are there and the

Bible says there's a cloud and they're hearing a voice from

heaven. And all of a sudden, the Bible

says they were looking at Jesus, and his face did shine as the

sun, and his raiment, His raiment was white as the light.

This old, frail. This old limited body in that

moment seemed to show forth the real power and the glory of what

was inside the man. Amen.

So much so that whenever Peter looked backed up on it, and he's

writing them the letters, he's kind of looking back on the

moment. He said, I tell you what, that

was a holy mountain. I've never seen you on this wise

Jesus. What you saying?

I'm saying I've heard it. 47 years old, I've heard it.

And sometimes people view the church's Holy walk as just being

plain and unattractive. Listen to Pastor Tonight,

though. Our purpose is not to garner the

attention of people. We're trying to garner the

attention. Of heaven, the attention of

heaven. And yet holy lives still draws

people's attention because it's like, well, they're just

ordinary. Yeah.

But that's different today, isn't it?

That's different. Oh, different.

I've heard that word before. Separated.

I've heard that word. What is that?

That's the pure definition of holiness.

There's an ancient city. I'm, I'm running, I'm getting

there folks. Y'all doing all right?

It's only eight O 4. There's an ancient city, Petra,

and in that ancient city there is a building known as the

Treasury. It has a exterior, A facade

that's carved in the side of a mountain that is quite ornate

and embellished in the side of a mountain.

As a matter of fact, if anybody from years ago watched the old

film Indiana Jones and the the Last Crusade, you'll see this

ornate face of the treasury in that film.

Well, in the film, you enter in through the door and there's all

these passageways that you go around and it enters into a room

of quite an expanse of a room. Well, all of that's fake in.

Real life the. Interior is a single room that's

about 30 to 40 feet square with just limestone walls.

No embellishment. What are you saying that for?

I'm saying, listen, according to the standards of some, God's

exteriors may not be the glamorous with all the gold and

the silver. It may not be glamorous.

According to societal norms, it might not be glamorous according

to cultural fads, but they're holy.

And a day's coming. A day's coming when we like the

Lord, will have a transformation.

The Scripture speaks of and will shine with the full intensity of

what we've been empowered with. The Bible says in Matthew

Matthew 13:43

chapter 13, verse 43, Brother Trevor, it says, then shall the

righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their father,

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The prophet Daniel spoke of that day of a resurrection day when

the righteous are going to show forth and really showcase the

glory of the power that has been working inside them in Daniel 2

and verse #2 And many of them that slept in the dust of the

earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to

shame and everlasting contempt. Again, I've told you before,

everybody someday there the church is going to resurrect at

the rapture of the church, but everybody someday is going to

resurrect, some to everlasting life, some someday to

everlasting contempt. And verse 3 says, and they that

be wise. He's speaking about the

righteous. Those that serve God shall shine

as the brightness of the firmament, and they shall turn

many into righteousness as the stars forever.

And every, you know what he's saying on that day, these old

limited bodies are we're going to showcase really the full

brilliance of everything that was within them.

So bodies have limitations. Right now, but not then, not

then. Holiness then is much like a

house foundation of attributes, walls and structures of

principles that we'll talk about in weeks to come.

Amen. And then standards or lifestyles

that just hang on those frameworks that go its way up on

the attributes of God himself and stand with me tonight.

God's building his house. He, he wants it to last.

He wants it to last, wants it to last and.

Just as much as. We're better off not ignoring

gravity. I mean, we're probably better

off not ignoring it. There's been people that have,

they've tried it. I can cheat this broken leg, you

know, some of them broken totally no longer existing.

Just as much as we shouldn't ignore gravity, we need not to

ignore the eternal principles that are based upon the

attributes of God. And here's the thing applies to

every person of every generation.

He's immutable. It changes not.

God is their source. God is the very fountainhead of

it all. And so again I say tonight, true

holiness and lifestyle really that perfecting of it comes to

learning them and applying them in our lives.

And that's where we need to. Get to but again my little

footnote right here at the bottom.

If you have not the spirit of the Lord, run after it.

Clean the inside 1st. 1st 1st Let's bow our heads here

tonight. Father, I come to you right now.

This altar is open for whomsoever we'll I mean, it

might be a good night to be introspective, might be a good

night just to play some consecration upon the Lord and

say Lord God, I've, I've wearied myself.

I've wearied myself in trying to do Lord external things.

I've wearied myself. There's sometimes that I felt

like it's been kind of foolish and I don't even understand all

the dynamics of it. I've wearied myself super ma'am.

If you're attempting to do that, you have not the Spirit of

Christ. You need.

You need the Lord to come into your life and clean the inside.

You need him to come into your life and start touching and

impacting the inside. That's primary.

That is primary. But if you have received the

Spirit of the Holy Ghost, then you need to work in partnership

with that Holy Ghost. Amen.

God will do His will in you and through you and work in

partnership with that Holy Ghost.

How do I do that, Pastor? I do that by being obedient to

the nudgings of that spirit that I've received.

God's trying to lead us, God's trying to guide us.

God's trying to nudge us and our way to work in, in, in cohesive

and in partnership in with him is to be obedient to his leading

and be obedient to his guiding. And if that means that he's

going to touch some areas of our life that that that, you know,

may may just be a little tender, if you will, to us sometimes

when he touches that and says, well, I want you to work on

that, then we need to be open that God knows best as the owner

of this House of what is needful and what is necessary.

And we need to surrender and submit to the encouragement,

Amen, of the Lord in all these different facets and areas of

our life. It can be our attitude.

It can be the way we speak. If you cheat on your taxes,

you're not doing it this year. You understand what I'm talking

about. That God we begin to lead and

guide and instruct. If you have his spirit, that's

what his spirit will do. He'll the spirit will lead in

God. But if you don't have the

spirit, you don't even have anything to help lead you and

guide you except the word of God.

And you're frustrated, right? Because you don't.

You're trying to do algebra, and you've not got multiplication

and addition and subtraction down yet.

These alters are open tonight. Amy, can we talk to God?

Lord, I want to. I want to be the way that you

want me to be. Lord God, I am your temple.

God, I am your house, Lord, my body and my spirit belongs unto

you. This altar is open today.

If you don't have the spirit of the Lord man, you need that.

You need to seek after Him. Amen.

You need to seek after him. He's not far from us.

He's here tonight, I guarantee you.

I feel his spirit right here tonight.

He's omniscient, He's omnipresent, Amen.

He's, he knows all things. He feels, Amen.

This universe. He's here tonight, Hallelujah.

And he desires, Amen for you to be a temple for him.

Amen. To envelope and to inhabit.

Amen. He wants to be a part of your

everyday living, of your life. Hallelujah, Jesus, I love you,

Lord. I love you, Lord, I need you,

Brother Mason. Amen.

Could you just give us a few lines of something right now as

we turn our hearts and our minds toward the Lord God?

I don't want to just do all this external and try to look Lord

Jesus and so and so forth. God appearing to me and God.

No, no, no, no, no, God. We're not doing this for the

attention of men per SE. Men will be attracted because of

the difference, but God, we're doing this for the attention of

heaven. We're doing this for the glory

of the Lord. We're doing this for the honor

of the Maker and the Master and the Creator of all things we're

doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's the owner of this house. Not society, not the government,

not the people that I go to work with or go to school with.

No, no, none of those. None of those are the owners of

this house. God is the owner of this house.

God is the owner of this house.