Let's read............Matthew 6:5-16
Beginning Prayer:
Our heavenly Father, we come to You in Jesus' name asking for peace in the church. Bless our Church leaders to honor You in all that they do. Bless the Holy Spirit to be allowed to lead the leaders of all Churches. Your Word says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14. We humble ourselves under Your almighty hands as we pray seeking Your face for answers in the Church today. Bless us to continue to turn from all ways that is not pleased to You in Jesus' name. Thank You Lord, for hearing our prayers as You have promised in Your Word. We do ask for You to forgive our wrong doings, our unbelief, and all that is sin in Your sight. Please help us the Church to obey You in all we do; Your Word says, obedient is better than sacrifice. Please help the Church of Christ to stand up for righteousness, and not give into to what men think is right. Help us to become serious in our watching and praying. Help us to love one another with a pure heart, and help us to sit our minds on things above, and not on things here on earth. We give You glory, honor, and praise because You are worthy, everything is Your, You have all the power, and we will always give You all the glory, We pray this prayer in Jesus' name, amen.
Subject: "The Lord's Prayer" For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory (Part 2)
Yours is the Kingdom… Continue
Now let us look at the three possessions of our God mentioned here. First is the kingdom. We have a great deal to say about the kingdom, and I make no apologies in going over some of this again, for repetition is a sound principle of pedagogy. Let us remember that in this magnificent Old Testament prayer, David had in mind the kingdom God had promised to him—that from his line there would come the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ, and He would sit upon the throne of David and rule on this earth. As David lifted his heart to God in prayer, he saw a kingdom lying in the future; he saw that kingdom as a mighty focal point with the great rays of Scripture converging upon it. That is my reason for saying that the church is in the kingdom and we are moving toward that day when the kingdom shall be established. The Father said to the Son, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool" (Psalm 110:1). After His rejection, Christ was brought to death through crucifixion, was buried, rose from the dead, ascended back to heaven, and took His place at God‟s right hand. And today He is bringing many sons home to glory. Thus He is moving world events toward the focal point when this kingdom shall be established upon the earth, He shall reign from shore to shore, righteousness shall cover this earth as the waters cover the sea, and righteousness and peace shall kiss each other. We must remember that this kingdom will not come by human manipulation. It will not come by ecumenical movements or any man-made program. It will be established in one way, and that is by the catastrophic and cataclysmic coming of Christ to this earth to put down all unrighteousness and establish His kingdom here in power and glory. And that is what you express when you say, "Yours is the kingdom."
…And the Power… But, my beloved, let us move on to the second possession: "the power." This is an age of power. It is an age of jet planes, rockets for outer space, and nuclear warheads. But in this age of power, when unheard of things are being accomplished in a material world, it has become the age of powerlessness for the church. As Samson was shorn of his hair, thus has the church been robbed of her power.
I'm reminded of Thomas Aquinas who entered the place where the Pope was counting the money. Thinking he had entered at a time when he should not have, he turned to walk away. But the Pope saw him and said, "Sir Thomas, no longer can the church say, „Silver and gold have I none.‟" Without even turning to look back, Thomas Aquinas said, "That is right, your Holiness, but no longer can the church say to the impotent man, „Rise and walk.‟"
This is an age of powerlessness, and yet [He is] declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4) He also says,
All authority [power] has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)
And further, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…. (Acts 1:8)
How can these things be? Let us look at the common logic of it. If the electric lights go out in Los Angeles, it does not mean that Hoover Dam has given way. It simply means that somewhere a connection has been broken. Now Christ has had all power given to Him, and if your church is powerless, then some of you had better be walking the line to see where the connection has been broken. Do you recall the incident of the man at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration? He had the little lad who was demon possessed, and he said, "So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him" (Matthew 17:16). How true that is of us today. It should cause us to bow our heads in prayer. Perhaps He cannot trust us with power today because we abuse or misuse it. But thank God He is coming and He will use power to correct the evils of this world. It will take power to get rid of our political regimes. It will take power to put Christ on the throne. He is coming in power! His is the kingdom, the power!
…And the Glory
And now let us come to "the glory." What is glory? What is its shape, size, and color? Perhaps you feel that you have never seen it, or you believe that it is spiritual and therefore cannot be seen. Not so, my friend. It can be seen. Every Hebrew word translated as our English word "glory" means something physical. It has been a rich experience for me to go through these words in order to arrive at their real meaning. How my heart longs to see the glory! I trust that you will be interested to look at these words, also. The first "glory" means "wide and great" as in this verse: "The heavens declare the glory of God…" (Psalm 19:1). I never look into the starry heavens but that I am reminded of the greatness and vastness of His glory. O, the vastness of the universe! And did you know that it is expanding continually? Surely "the heavens declare the glory of God." Then there is another word associated with our word "glory," and it means "brightness." And there is a third word that is translated "beauty," as in, "…Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Matthew 6:29), referring to the lilies of the field. Just as this universe reveals the vastness of God, so a little flower reveals something of the beauty of God. The One who made the flowers loves beauty, and God is the One who made the flowers. But the most common word in the Old Testament relative to the glory of God is the Hebrew word kabod, which means "wealth and worth; dignity and honor; splendor and majesty" and can apply either to God or man. Its primary meaning is that of the external or physical, but it also has an ethical and moral significance. When used, it speaks of the purity and holiness of God; it speaks of His essential character: I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. (Isaiah 42:8)
Now this word "glory" as used in the Old Testament speaks of a material manifestation of God. Moses said to God on Mt. Sinai, "Lord, I want to see your face," and God said, "I‟ll let you see my glory" (see Exodus 33:20-23). Moses saw God‟s glory on another occasion, too. We read that when the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the Lord filled the place. And when Moses and Aaron moved out with the Israelites, the Shekinah presence of God was with them in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. It was a physical manifestation of God. You may recall that when Solomon built the temple, the glory was transferred from the tabernacle to the temple. But somewhere in their long, dreary, sinful history, the glory departed. Ezekiel saw the vision—it lifted up from the temple and abode a moment to see if the people would turn back to God. But they did not, so it withdrew out over the city. It paused again over the city walls to see if the people might turn to God, but they would not. Then it went on out to the Mount of Olives and was caught back into heaven. That was the last view of the Shekinah glory. Then after four hundred years of silence, shepherds on a hillside had a manifestation of the glory of God as the angel said, "Glory to God in the highest." As John said: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us [pitched His tent among us], and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) May I say that the word "glory" has an ethical value here, because in Christ it was not physically manifested, except on one or two occasions. What they saw was that He was innately holy, harmless, undefiled, the One separate from sinners. But when He was born, He laid aside His glory that He had with the Father in heaven. The thing that identified God in the Old Testament no longer identified Him. In the New Testament, we find Him wrapped in the swaddling clothes of humanity and, in due time, grown to full manhood and the service of the ministry. He laid aside that physical manifestation as a garment. In writing of it Paul says:
Who, being in the form of God [the morphia of God], did not consider it robbery to be equal with God [because it rightfully belonged to Him], but [laid it aside and] made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6, 7) For over 2000 years, theologians have been arguing about what it was that He laid aside. What was it that He emptied Himself of? I feel that He laid aside His glory and walked this earth as a man. Oh, He is God, but He laid aside His glory. Then there came that day when He walked with His disciples and "a cloud received Him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9). It was not a rain cloud. It was the glory-cloud—the Shekinah glory. That which He had laid aside was waiting for Him, and thus He took, again, all the prerogatives that rightfully were His. He wore it as a garment and entered into heaven! At this point of departure He made a statement that we will do well to meditate upon. In telling His disciples that He was coming again, He said, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30)
Have you ever stopped to think what that sign is going to be? I am not sure that I know, but I would like to make a suggestion. Personally, I feel that when He is to come, the Shekinah glory will flash as the lightning from the east to the west. Thus Shekinah glory will again be revealed upon the earth. There is no glory today—it is withheld. Today you and I are to glorify Him. He said: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) And Paul said: Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31) That is the chief business of a Christian. Some will say that soul-winning is the Christian‟s chief end. No, that is secondary. To glorify God is our primary business as a professing Christian. Scripture has a word for us here: Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. (2 Corinthians 2:14, 15) You and I are to glorify God regardless of results. We are to glorify Him and bring nothing of disrepute on His name or cause that will drive men and women from His presence. Someday that is what we will spend an eternity doing—glorifying Him. If you do not enjoy glorifying Him here, then I do not think you will enjoy heaven very much. In all fairness, how can you—after thinking quietly upon the undeserved love and goodness of God poured out upon you—fail to want to kneel before Him thankfully in adoration? "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever."
Week # 14
Weekly Pattern: Praise Again
Prayers from the Bible:
Questions:
1). What is a Kingdom?
2). What is Power?
3). Read (Matthew 28:18 and Acts 1:8)
4). What is Glory?
5). Name the different types of Glory.
6). Read (Exodus 33:20-23)
7). What do Shekinah means?
8). How many years were God silent?
9). What did Christ do when He was born into this world?
10). What statement did Jesus make when He was departing from His disciples? (Matthew 24:30)
11). How will the Shekinah glory appear when Jesus return?
12). What is our primary purpose as a professing Christian?
13). Read (2 Corinthians 2:14,15)
14). What will we do in eternity?
15). What do adoration means to you?
Weekly Reading Assignment: (Acts 27-28)
Weekly Song: (Matthew 26:30)
Weekly Praise: Blessed be the Lord!
Let's Hallow His name by rehearsing Who He is:
Ending Prayer:
