Finally The Temple

Amen If you got your Bible, 1 Kings chapter 5, 6, 7, 2 Chronicles chapter 2, 3 and 4 is where we're at this evening Those six chapters and many other portions of Scripture talk to us a lot about Solomon's temple The temple is finally going to be built It's the year 966 B It 's the fourth year of Solomon's reign, and Israel has been worship in a tabernacle since the days of Moses And the tabernacle was a very fragile piece of structure, and also it was a very portable structure And yet, all the pagan gods or pagan nations had erected temples

To their gods, and now Israel is going to erect one to the one true God And so Solomon is going to embark on the greatest Building project in the history of the world It is that This temple will be built It will take seven years to complete It will one day be destroyed It will be rebuilt again And Solomon's temple will become Herod's temple That would take 40 years to build It too would be destroyed in 70 A And of course, Israel is going to build a third temple, and it will be for the anti-Messiah, not the true Messiah

They think they're going to build it for the True Messiah, but it's going to be the Antichrist instead That one too will be desecrated and destroyed, and the Messiah Himself will come back Will rule and reign on this earth and build the fourth temple, and he will rule and reign from Mount Zion in the city of Jerusalem. for a thousand years on this earth That's where it's going But in the meantime, we're going back to project number one in the greatest building project ever known in the history of the world, Solomon's Temple

And as I thought about this and the opportunity, there's so much the Bible says concerning not only the construction of the temple But the thing, this thing surrounding the temple itself, and so I've given you an outline that you can follow through with me as we look at different points of interest about the temple that will help you understand a little bit more Concerning not just the structure itself, but what was God's purpose behind all this? You can read about all the dimensions and all the gold and all that's there

You can do that, but there are certain things that I think all of us need to glean As we begin to understand what God was doing as Solomon began this great and wonderful project So we'll begin in 1 Kings 5 and read the first five verses Now Haram, the king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father For Haram had always been a friend of David Then Solomon sent word to Haram, saying, You know that David, my father, was unable to build a house

For the name of the Lord is God, because of the wars which surrounded him, until the Lord put him under the soles of his feet But now the Lord my God Has given me rest on every side There is neither adversary nor misfortune Behold, I intend To build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying, Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place He will build the house for my name Now, just in those five verses alone, there's a lot of information

But I want you to notice one thing before we get to our outline, and that is the fact that Solomon says to Haram that David, his father, okay Was one who was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God So Solomon says that he will build a house for the name of the Lord my God And in that little phrase, his God and my God, is a wealth of information Because it tells us that the true legacy of King David was not a legacy concerning the throne But a legacy concerning the truth and how it was passed down to a son

It wasn't the fact that it was just David's God, but it was also Solomon's God And that's the most important thing we need to understand That we want our children to be able to do great things down the road, but if they don't understand your God and my God, then what truly have we done as parents? And therefore, when you look at the book of Proverbs, and Solomon says these words in Proverbs chapter 4, he says in verse number 1 Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, and give attention that you may gain understanding For I give you sound teaching, do not abandon my instruction

When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, that he taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments, and live So Solomon, in writing the Proverbs Goes back in time to speak to his sons concerning the fact that there was one thing his dad did There's one thing his mother did, was to make sure that they passed down to him the truth about the Lord God of Israel So important You see, we can miss everything when it comes to the dynasty of King David and the fact that he was ruler over Judah and over Israel

And then Solomon now becomes king over Israel And there's 40 years of peace under Solomon's rule But the most important thing is that David passed down to his son the most important things concerning the Lord God of Israel So, his son would enter into a relationship with the living God as his father was involved with the relationship with the living God That's the most important thing If you miss that, then you've missed the whole emphasis of what David was doing as a father, passing down to his son the most important truths that his son needs to learn and understand

That's why, over in Psalm 78, the psalmist says, This: Listen, O my people, to my instruction, inc your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and know And our fathers have told us, we will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and his wondrous works that He has done

For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children That they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God and keep His commandments That's so important So important to realize that And so, as you embark on a study of the temple that Solomon's about to build, you cannot For that Solomon served the same God as his father

It wasn't I'm doing this because this is my father's God, He's my God And I wonder this evening if you can say with ironclad assurance that the Lord God of Israel is your God and that you can pass that down to your children so they understand That the God you serve is the God they need to serve At the very outset, I want you to know, notice point number one About the temple, and that is the passion for the temple It wasn't Solomon's passion to begin with, it was David's passion To begin with If you got your Bible, turn over to First Chronicles First Chronicles chapter 17

It says, And it came about when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I am dwelling in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under curtains And then Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you Now, the parallel of this is 2 Samuel chapter 7 And David is alone, and David is doing more than just daydreaming He's thinking about what he can do for the Lord What is left to do for the Lord? He is king over Israel, and he knows that he lives in a beautiful palace But there is no place for the ark of God to rest

What can he do for God? You know, so many times we have to ask ourselves, what do we daydream about? What do we think about when it's Early in the morning, and we're all alone, what goes through our minds? Are we thinking about how we can better serve God, how we can be better used by God, what I can do for my God? For the most part, that's just not on our minds, is it? We're thinking about you know how we're going to make it to the end of the month, we're thinking about vacation this summer, we're thinking about getting to the end of the school year, we're thinking about all kinds of things, but are we thinking about how we can best serve our God and honor Him? Here is David thinking, what can I do for my God? I live in this house

It's a beautiful home It's a beautiful palace And yet, there's no place for the ark of God to rest So he goes to Nathan the prophet and says, I got a plan. I want to do something for the Lord, I want to build the house For the ark of God And Nathan says, Go for it That's a great idea. I wish I'd have thought of that Go do it And so David goes to bed thinking, I'm going to start this project It's going to be a great project

It came about that same night, verse 3, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David my servant, Thus says the Lord, you shall not build a house for me. to dwell in You're not going to do it It's not going to happen It's very important to realize that just because you have a great plan In the service of the king, it doesn't mean that you're the one to carry out that plan And the Lord God, through the prophet Nathan, tells David exactly what needs to happen And he goes back in history

If you read through 1 Chronicles 17, he goes back to when he took David from the shepherd fields and how he raised David up to show David, this is what I've done for you But for you to build a house of worship, that's not for you That's going to be for a son after you And over in 1 Chronicles chapter 20, 22, it says, David said to Solomon, My son, I had intended to build a house To the name of the Lord my God But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, You have shed much blood and have waged great wars

You shall not build a house to my name because you have shed so much blood on the earth before me Behold, the son will be born to me You, who shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days He shall build a house for my name, and he shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever Now, my son, the Lord be with you, that you may be successful and build the house of

Of the Lord your God, just as He has spoken concerning you Wow You know, David could have been all upset and dejected because he had this great plan and he couldn't do it But if you read through 1 Chronicles 17, he rejoices in what God's doing He rejoiced that God has a plan And God, in that whole process in 2 Samuel 7, would talk to him about a king that would be in the throne forever And it's where we understand the Dav covenant that there will be a Messiah who will come, a seed from David's line Who will rule and reign forever? And God had a great plan for David's descendants

But David wasn't given the opportunity David's passion For a place to house the Ark of God wasn't going to be built by him, but by his son But notice this in 1 Kings chapter 8 We're going to jump around a lot tonight, so make sure your fingers are nimble. 1 Kings chapter 8, verse number 18: But the Lord said to my father, David, this is Solomon speaking, because it was in your Heart to build the house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart In other words, God commended David because of his passion God commended David because his heart was right God commended David that he had

The right perspective God commended David that he had the right direction, he was on the right path He commended him for the attitude That he had He committed him for the desire that he had because he truly wanted to honor the name of God But just because he didn't get the opportunity to do that, It didn't diminish the fact that God saw exactly what was in his heart Because remember, God look On the ins of a man, the heart of a man, man looks on the outside And there are a lot of us who do works on the outside That are really great works, but the heart's not right on the inside

And God condemns that And here was David, whose heart was right, who wanted to do the right thing And God commends him for his heart attitude God saw his heart So, this whole passion about the temple begins with David That's where it begins And through that, God makes it very clear that a son of David would build the temple, that the man of peace, Solomon, would be the one Who would build the temple? And that passion then would be passed down to Solomon, his son Isn't it interesting that your children develop the same kind of passions that you develop? You ever notice that? Of course you do

You know, my children have the same passions that their parents have And that is easily passed down because your children catch your passion, don't they? Your children catch it, they see it, they understand it You can say a lot of things, but whatever you're passionate about, you're going to commit your time to, you're going to commit your energy to, and they're going to be drawn to that because they're going to see that in your life David was a man of passion And that passion was about the worship of God and the honor of God, and he wanted to build a house for God

Couldn't do it, but Solomon soon catched that passion Realizing that God had laid his hand upon him to be the builder of the house, of the name Of God The second thing I want you to notice is not just the passion, but I want you to notice, number two The purpose The purpose simply stated in verse 3 of 1 Kings 5: a house for the name of the Lord his God. A house for the name of the Lord his God It's said again down in verse number five And if you go over back to 1 Chronicles chapter. I'm sorry, 2 Chronicles chapter 2, verse number 1 Now Solomon decided to build a house for the name of the Lord

It says again, Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God That's very important So, what is the name of the Lord my God? And why does it emphasize that? Because name equals character, character equals attributes, and everything about the temple Would demonstrate to the people the character and nature of God It was all about the name of God If you go on and read in 2 Chronicles 2, verse number 6, but who was able to build a house for him? For the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain him

So who am I that I should build a house for him except to burn incense? Before him In other words, they knew that God can't be housed in a building They understood that Because God is everywhere Excuse me So they were able to grasp that So in building a house for the name of the Lord their God They were building something that would truly characterize the beauty and splendor and glory of God You know, it's important to realize this, and you maybe have them in your library, and I've talked about this before: a book that talks about the names of God God doesn't have names God only has a name

Never in Scripture does he have the plural names Never It's always called the name He's the God of the name In the name of the Lord our God For instance, Isaiah 9, verse number 6: the child's born, the son's given, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsel, might God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace Doesn 't say his names are It says, and his name shall be called, because he only has one name But it manifests itself in a variety of ways, right? He has a name, really, that truly Truly is a name that pardons us from our sin

Should call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, right? His memorial name, Exodus chapter 3, the memorial name that's to be remembered from generation to generation is the name I am, right? That's his name It's the name of deliverance It's a name of salvation It's a name It's his redemptive name The name By which he is to be remembered throughout all eternity But that's his name, right? There is power in his name He's called El Shaddai, right? There's provision in his name Yave Yire Genesis 2, verse number 14 He 's the God, my provider

There is protection in his name, Yave Nisi, which means the Lord, my banner, the Lord, my victory You see, there's so much about his name And just do a cursory study of the name of God There's praise in his name because his name is to be exalted from generation to generation God doesn't have names, plural He has a name And the name manifests itself in a variety of ways So when you build a house to the name of the Lord our God, you're building a house that characterizes all That God is, and that's what the temple was to signify That's what everything in the temple pointed to

It pointed to the Lord God of Israel That's why you need to understand the purpose for the temple It was all centered around the name of the Lord our God Remember Psalm 115, verse number 1? Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto your name be glory and honor Remember 3 John 7? It says, they went out for the sake of the name The name The name is who God is And that was the purpose of building the temple It was a place That signified the character and nature of God

So when people came to worship the God, worship God, they would be en in all that God is, through all the utensils and through all the artifacts and through all the beauty of that temple, they would be reminded of the glorious splendor of God The third thing I want you to notice is the prompting for the temple What prompted Solomon to build the temple? Okay, sure, God had told David that his son Solomon would build the temple, but there was more to it than just that First of all, there was Solomon's love for God Kings chapter 3, verse number 3 Now Solomon loved the Lord He loved the Lord

He loved the Lord like his father loved the Lord And so there was this love of God that prompted Solomon To want to do for God, remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 10: The love of Christ constrains me, it compels me, it moves me There's something about the love of Christ that causes me to move to action And it's really the only motive that truly honors the Lord is that I love Him and I want to serve Him because I love Him so And so Solomon was prompted by his love for God over in 2 Chronicles chapter 2 It says, Behold, I am going to build a house

For the name of the Lord my God, dedicating it to Him to burn fragrant sense Incense, excuse me, before him, and to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening on Sabbaths and on new moons and on the appointed feasts Of the Lord our God, this being required forever in Israel Not only was there a love for God, there was the worship of God He truly wanted to worship God and provide a place that would be conducive for the worship of Israel God seeks true worship, right? He wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth And Solomon was a worshiper of God

So it just wasn't the love of God and the worship of God, it was the honor of God For he goes on to say, the house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods In other words, all the other Houses and temples that were built for false gods were just that built for false gods There is one living God There is one true God And he wanted to build a house for the name of the Lord his God that he might truly honor That God and praise His glorious name Whatever we do, we should do because we love God, we truly want to worship God And truly want to honor our God

The fourth thing I want you to see is the plan The plan for the temple The plan was God's plans. 1 Chronicles chapter 28. 1 Chronicles chapter 28 says in verse number 19, All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me all the details of this Pattern In other words, everything was given to David by God, and David then would pass it down to his son as God had given it to him It says in verse 11 of 1 Chronicles 2, then David gave to his son Solomon the plan of the porch, verse 12, and the plan of all that he had in mind

Also, for the divisions of the priests, verse 13, for the golden utensils and the weight of gold, verse 14, for the golden lamps, verse number 15, ver Verse 17, and the forks and the basins and the pitchers Verse 18, and the altar of incense, we find gold Weight, everything God had written down God wanted him to know exactly what the temple was to be like So there was a plan given by God to David that David then would pass down to his son in order for his son to follow the prescription for the pattern that would Describe everything pertaining to the building of the temple

Do you know that it's very important to note? That God always gives directions and plans when He wants something accomplished He just does He doesn't leave us in the dark So important for you and me to understand that God gives specific inst For instance, let's say it to you this way We know that God is in the process of building the household of God

Remember on Sunday mornings we told you that in the Old Testament economy of Israel, they had a priesthood, but in the New Covenant, we are a priesthood? Remember, we talked to you about that? In the Old Testament, they had a temple, but in the New Covenant We are the temple Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit And Peter tells us in 1 Peter chapter 4 that we, because we house the living God, we are living stones That are built up around the chief cornerstone based on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets And we, according to 1 Timothy chapter 3, are the household of God

And God has given specific instructions for how the household of God is to operate Very clear direction He's given us his word to spell it out for us so that we completely understand ex what he wants us to do He wants us to understand how we are to live our lives Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit You see, the room here is not, this is not the house of God The building, right? This is not even the sanctuary of God This is nothing but a building That's all it is But inside the building, you have people Whose bodies are the temple of the living God

And those people Whose body is a temple of the living God are part of the living stones being built up together that form the household of God And God has given very specific directions on how we are to live our lives What is to happen on the inside? That our hearts will be made pure and clean and holy before Him He's given specific instructions on how we are to remain clean before him and to honor him and to live for him Because we are representative of the name of God, right? We are children of the living God We represent the kingdom of God

And as that temple built, A house in the name of the Lord God of Israel, a house that would represent the character and nature of the glorious beauty of God So now you and I Or that li stone being built up to magnify the name of God, to give glory to God, to reflect the image of God, the beauty of God See what happened with Israel is they stopped doing that And in 1 Kings 8, when Solomon dedicates a temple, and we'll get there here in a couple of weeks, that the glory of the Lord comes down, right? What's the glory of the Lord? It's the presence of God manifested in brilliant shining light

And the glory of the Lord comes down in that temple And that was to represent the presence of God in that location And later in the book of Ezekiel, the glory of the Lord departs from that temple That is, that God would no longer be seen in that place because the people had so corrupted the temple So, when you come to 2 Chronicles 36, which by the way is the last chapter in the Hebrew Bible, it's not Malachi, it's 2 Chronicles 36 It end with the destruction of the temple on the Temple Mount

When King Nebuchadnezzar came in and destroyed that temple and took Israel into captivity for 70 years, simply because they did not obey the voice of the Lord In other words, God gives specific instructions for how things should operate, how things should function And so when God gave directions to David, and David then would give them to Solomon, they were to be fulfilled exactly as God said so So God gave the plan for the temple The next thing I want you to see It's not just the plan for the temple and the purpose for the temple, the prompting and the passion

But I want you to notice: number five, the process For building the temple Look what it says in First Kings chapter six, verse number seven The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry And there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built Can you imagine that? There was no hammer There was no tool, no axe, there was no pounding of those things In the place where the house of God was being built Now, if've been to Israel with me, you know where the quarry is, because the quarry is where Gagatha is

And that's where they would take the stones from, and that's where they would be doing the chipping away and the designing of the different outlay of the structure of the temple When they moved everything, they moved it to the place where the temple was being built But the only thing you heard there were the grunts and the moans of the men as they moved one stone from one place to the other But it's almost as if the Lord wants them to know that what you're doing is something of supreme reverence And they did it almost in silence The process was a silent process And to me, that's just amazing

And, you know, we're still in our leadership on Monday night. I don want to read too much into it, but I know that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, and Ecclesiastes 5, verses 1 and 2 says that when you enter the house of the Lord, you go to listen Don't bring up a matter in the presence of the Lord because you're going there to listen You're going there to be quiet You're going there to hear the voice of the living God And there is so much instruction throughout the scripture Be still, be quiet, and know that I am God Psalm 46, verse number 10 Isaiah 30, verse number 15 In quietness and in trust

Shall be your strength, but you were unwilling not just to trust, you were unwilling to be quiet long enough to trust The Bible says in the book of Zephaniah, the first chapter, the seventh verse, it says that the sovereign God rules, that all the earth be silent Psalm 62, verse number 1, Psalm 62, verse number 5 The psalm is called the only psalm It says that my soul waits in quietness My soul waits silently for you, O Lord, silently

It's almost as if there's major symbolism here that the house of the Lord is a place Will you go to hear the voice of God, to hear Him speak, to make sure that there is no distraction, no noise that will keep you from hearing what He has to say? No external noise Lamentations 3 says it is good that you wait silently for the salvation Of the Lord Habakkuk 2, verse number 20, let all the earth keep silent before him One of the fourth century Christmas songs goes like this: Let all mortal flesh keep silent and with fear and trembling stand Ponder nothing worldly-minded

For with blessing in his hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand The process was one of silence The process, this went on for seven years It wasn't that they necessarily weren't talking, it wasn't that there was no noise, I'm sure there was noise But the fact that there was no hammer, there was no tool, there was no utensil that would make noise in that place Signifies something very unique about the house of God and how God wants to Convey that this is a holy place It's a place that's to be revered for my name's sake

The next thing I want you to see outside of the process, number six Is the priority I'm sorry, number six is the place Thank you Someone's paying attention Second Chronicles 3, verse number 1, tells us the place The place is on Mount Moriah So if you are to move up the city of David, the hill of Bethel, to on top of Moriah, all of it's basically Moriah, which means foreseen by God It's first of all used in Genesis 22, where Abraham would take his son Isaac to the place that God had designed for him, and it would happen to be Mount Moriah. A place fore by God

It was also a place in 2 Samuel 24 where David went to give praise and thanksgiving to God for his mercy shown upon his people after he numbered his men when he was told not to It's a very significant place It's the most expensive piece of real estate on the planet Everybody wants to be there, but it's designed for God Himself alone, Mount Moriah That's the place where the temple was to be built It's a very significant place, very strategic place It's the supreme Place in all the earth It is Mount Zion It is the holy city of Jerusalem It is the place where God Himself

Has said he dwells on Mount Zion, Mount Moriah It's the place of the crucifixion of Christ And yes, if you've been to Israel with me, it is the place of the original Garden of Eden And I can prove that to you biblically. I won't do that tonight, but that's exactly where it is: Mount Moriah It is the most strategic place in the history of the world That's where the temple was to be built But in the whole process of building this temple, I want you to notice, number seven, the priority, and that's in 1 Kings chapter 6. 1 Kings chapter 6

Right in the middle of this building project, it says in verse number 11: Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk In my statutes and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will not forsake my people, Israel God makes That Solomon knows the number one priority And the priority is not the work, the priority is the walk of those who do the work That's the priority

Three times God speaks to Solomon Three times God emphasizes the walk of Solomon. 1 Kings chapter 3, 1 Kings chapter 6, 1 Kings chapter 9 Three times, God emphasizes that Solomon must walk With him, must keep his statutes, must obey the ordinances of God, because that's what's most important You can be engaged in a great work but not walk with God But the achievement is not what's important It's the attitude behind that achievement It's the heart of a man It's the heart of a woman You need to walk with the living God

And so the Lord God of Israel, in the middle of this whole building project, doesn't want Solomon to lose perspective He doesn't want him to lose the number one priority Make sure you know this, Solomon Make sure you walk with me Because if you don't do this, Everything will come crumbling down And it did It did There were 40 years of peace, but at the end of those, at the end of Solomon's reign, and the kingdom is divided, and every king in Israel basically is Worse than the next king, and the whole thing comes tumbling down in 2 Chronicles 36

It's because Solomon did not continue to walk with the Lord to lead the nation to walk with the Lord They began to think that the temple project was more important than anything else It's like people today, the church I go to is more important than the he of those who go to that church It's the heart of the individual that matters And are we walking with the Lord? Are we in tune with the Lord? Do we want to obey what the word of the Lord says? That's what is most important And then notice this And that is, last, the principle The principle simply is this

As a church, as a church, we truly are the household of God And we have a huge responsibility to live in light of what God's word says And as living stones being built up, We should seek to honor, love, and worship our God every single day God has come to dwell in you and me. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16. 1 Corinthians 6, verse number 19 We are the temple of the living God God dwells in us And as that temple that Solomon would build, Would be given to portray the glory and beauty and splendor of God, so you and me are designed to give glory and honor to our precious Lord

That we are to live for his glory and not our own We are to live so that others see his name and not our n We're to live in such a way that we truly, as the righteous people of God, reflect the beauty and splendor of our Redeemer That people can see See the glory of the Lord The writer of Hebrews and Hebrews 3, verse number 6, would say it this way Hebrews 3, Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house are We, that's us, we are the house of God, and every one of us Like every one of us is a priest, we are a kingdom of priests

Like every one of us is the casing, the temple of the living God, all of us are being built up As a house that magnifies the name of God And so the opportunity and the ability that you and I have to do that as a church Is only as good as we do it individually, as our hearts are right before the Lord So that when we come together We can shine bright for the glory of our God Let me pray with you Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight The chance you've given to us to spend a brief moment in the word of the Lord So much to say about the house of the name of the Lord our God

Our prayer, Lord, is that as your children As priests in your kingdom, as living stones being built up to the house of God, that our lives would reflect your image, your glory, your splendor That we would live to honor you, and that our love for you would be strong That our passion for the glory of the King would be seen by everyone around us And pray, Lord, that you would be honored not just this night, but in every subsequent night to come, through all of us who are here for the glory of your kingdom, we pray in Jesus' name Amen.