{"id":34574,"date":"2025-02-04T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-5_1-18-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-01-25T17:21:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T00:21:39","slug":"1-kings-6_1-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-6_1-38\/","title":{"rendered":"The Work God Is Doing In You"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings 6:1-38 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 6:1-38.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 6:1-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the\u00a0LORD.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The temple that King Solomon built for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He made narrow clerestory windows in the temple.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-10:\u00a0 In verses\u00a01\u00a0through 10 Solomon gets busy building the temple. Interestingly, according to verse 7, Solomon went to great lengths to make sure that the sound of construction tools could be not heard at the temple site.\u00a0 He did this by moulding, shaping and dressing all the building blocks for the temple off-site.\u00a0 Then he would\u00a0bring them to the temple site where they could be quietly placed and displayed for everyone to see.\u00a0 \u00a0To casual onlookers, it might seem like the temple quietly sprung up overnight, since they did not hear many construction sounds, when in fact much of the hard work had been done off-site.<\/p>\n

To me this is a picture of how God grows and builds up a Christian.\u00a0\u00a0Some of the most important building God does in you is off-site, private, not in the public eye.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Just as Solomon dressed stones off-site before bringing them to the temple site to display before people, God likes to develop your muscles in private so that you can use them and display them in public later on.\u00a0 \u00a0So don’t despise those private spiritual disciplines that your church encourages you to practice, like:
\n– the habit of a daily time with God;
\n– practicing intimacy with God;
\n– meditating on and memorizing Scripture;
\n– learning to do life with a few others in healthy Christian community; and
\n–\u00a0seeking to please God in the secret, private areas of your life (through things like tithing, serving others without expecting repayment, and loving people well).<\/p>\n

It’s in these private, off-site places that some of your most important spiritual muscles are built.\u00a0 God often wants to form them off-site before He will put them on display for many others to see.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>\u00a0Kings<\/strong>\u00a06<\/strong>:11-13 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>The word of the LORD came to Solomon:\u00a0<\/em>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>“As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father.\u00a0<\/em>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-13:\u00a0 In the middle of Solomon’s temple building program, God speaks to Solomon.\u00a0 But what God talks to Solomon about is not the building of the temple but about the building of Solomon’s own life with God.\u00a0 God is effectively telling Solomon, “What matters to Me even more than whether or not you build this temple is whether you are living in accordance with My commands.\u00a0 It’s your personal intimacy with me and your obedience to me that is going to determine whether I fulfill My promise to always keep a descendant of David on the throne.”<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your public ministry can compensate for a lack of a personal relationship with God.\u00a0\u00a0No matter how busy you get with activity, always protect and take good care of your relationship with God, for that is the power source of everything else you do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1<\/strong>\u00a0Kings<\/strong>\u00a06<\/strong>:14\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>So Solomon built the temple and completed it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

1 Kings 6:14-38 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Solomon built the temple and completed it.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of pine.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0there.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits–ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The height of each cherub was ten cubits.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood with five-sided jambs.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And on the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with beaten gold.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the same way he made four-sided jambs of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall.
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He also made two pine doors, each having two leaves that turned in sockets.
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And he built the inner courtyard of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The foundation of the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv.
\n38\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 14-38:\u00a0 Having heard God’s encouragement in verses 11 to 13, Solomon completes the temple building project in verses 14 to 38.\u00a0 Solomon uses many of the best materials to build and decorate the temple.\u00a0 It took him 7 years from start to finish.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from all this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0Don’t give God the scraps, but give your best toward the building of God’s house.<\/strong>\u00a0 The building of God’s house demands are very best — the best of our time, resources, creativity and energy.\u00a0 Let’s give our best toward building His church.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Solomon began (v1) and completed (v14) this project, just as God is faithful to complete the good work He started in you (Philippians\u00a0<\/strong>1<\/strong>:<\/strong>6<\/strong>),<\/strong>\u00a0may you too be a great finisher<\/strong>.\u00a0 May you not say yes to something only to stop and quit in the middle.\u00a0 Rather may you be known for fulfilling the commitments you make and who finishes what you start.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that it is in private, off-site places that You are doing some of Your most important spiritual work in me.\u00a0 Just as You are always faithful to finish what You start, may I finish the commitments and projects that I say yes to in faith.\u00a0 May I always give my very best for the building of Your house, for You deserve my best.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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opyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 6:1-38.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Kings 6:1-10 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the\u00a0LORD.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0The temple that King Solomon built for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-10:\u00a0 In verses\u00a01\u00a0through 10 Solomon gets busy building the temple. Interestingly, according to verse 7, Solomon went to great lengths to make sure that the sound of construction tools could be not heard at the temple site.\u00a0 He did this by moulding, shaping and dressing all the building blocks for the temple off-site.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34574"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34578,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34574\/revisions\/34578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}