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[no audio] ...as a container for storage or shipping. [no audio] It's defined as a box with a lid used for the safekeeping of belongings.

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[no audio] It may be the place where [no audio] money of a public institution is kept.

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So in a sense, a chest is a treasury. We have here before us today a chest that we have words inside inscribed, "The Chest of Joash, which is to remind us of this particular event which is the basis of our message. Now I know that when the preacher talks about money, that we say he kills the spirit.

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money and the right use of it fail to prevail in the church, we soon have a dead church. The event around which this message is woven occurs during the reign of King Joash, who as the king of Judah. It was a time when violence and crime

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encircled the throne. Athaliah killed her grandsons and assumed the throne of Judah. She became queen.

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It was Joash who escaped this bloodthirsty purge. He was hidden in the temple for six years. This action was masterminded by Jehoiada, the high priest.

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After seven years, Jehoiada revealed what he had done and Joash became king of Judah at the age of seven. The top priority item on King Joash's agenda during his reign was the repair and the reconditioning

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of the temple. The Lord's house had been neglected. Some say that 200 years had passed without any major repairs to the temple. How we provide for the Lord's house indicates what we think of God. Our dedication, our commitment, and our sacrifice are indications of our love for God, the extent to which we love him. Neglect of the Lord's house is a sign of indifference

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selfishness, lethargy, and apathy. The people saw the deterioration of the temple, but they did not care. King Joash summoned the priests and Levites and gave them these instructions. He said, "Go to all the cities of Judah and collect offerings for the building fund so that we can maintain the temple in good

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repair. Get at it right away, don't delay. But the Levites took their time. They had no zeal for the Lord's house. They had no enthusiasm for worship. They certainly had no enthusiasm for raising money for the temple building fund. Now the priests heard King Josiah's command but took no positive or constructive action to

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implemented. They were satisfied with the status quo. As long as the priests received their fees and their income suffered no decline, they were satisfied. The Lord's house remained neglected until King Joash called Jehorada the high priest before him and asked him, "Why haven't you demanded that the Levites

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go out and collect the temple taxes from the cities of Judah and from Jerusalem? The tax law enacted by Moses, the servant of the Lord, must be enforced so the temple can be repaired. Now the temple tax was sort of a head tax. It was sort of like what we had as a people, as a nation, particularly in certain southern states, we called the poll tax in order to vote.

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Now they had the temple tax, that was the head tax that everyone was to pay. In fact, they presented Jesus with this matter. "Are you going to pay your tax?" And Jesus said, "Well, go down there to the sea and cast in, and you'll get a fish to

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come out, and in the fish's mouth you'll find a coin, and take that and pay the tax." So Jesus was faithful. He paid his temple obligations. The followers of the wicked Queen Athaliah

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had ravaged the temple and everything dedicated to the temple. There were those who demanded maximum benefits from the temple without contributing

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to the upkeep of the temple. They ravaged the temple. You would think that, when you really consider what it means

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that the temple is God's dwelling place, the temple is where God meets his people, the holy place, you would think that people would have great reverence.

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But people come in and They break into our churches, they steal practically everything of value. If we don't have it locked and double locked almost,

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it walks away from the church. And people didn't just become like that. They were like that during Jewish days. And we have alarm systems and the like.

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And in many of our churches, particularly when you go in the East, you can't even get in the church without giving a buzz signal.

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And they have to know who you are before you get into the house of God. That's a long way from saying whosoever will, let him come and having the doors open.

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And people desecrate the Lord's house. This is what was happening. They were plundering the temple. Like we have a prayer room that was built for this use

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of people who need pray any time of day, any time of night. You could come into the prayer room and pray. We found out that when we left the prayer room open, that people were coming into the prayer room

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doing everything but praying. Plundering the Lord's house, desecrating that which is holy. This is why the temple was in that condition.

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Nebuchadnezzar Followed what Athaliah had done in raiding the temple When his armies conquered Jerusalem, they went into the temple And they carried off the holy vessels the silver and gold vessels that were there

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they carried them back to Babylon and so the temple was

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plundered and Today, we still have those who raid the temple. They are temple raiders. They are often far more enthusiastic about what they do than the temple contributors.

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The provision was made for the upkeep of the temple, but it was not carried out. And so he says in this order, in this command, the king says, "All the money of the dedicated things, all the money that cometh into any man's heart, bring it into the house of the Lord."

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This giving is to be of the heart. Of the heart. The seed of the emotions is to be of the heart. Giving to the Lord is not to be just head, but we ought to feel, we ought to have a love, we ought to have devotion for what we are doing.

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So the king commands a chest to be made for the temple gifts, but the building fund. Jehoradah, the priest, took a chest, bored a hole in it, and set it beside the altar on the right side of the altar. of those who entered the temple, and the ushers that kept the door,

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put into the chest, all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. Now, when he set the chest here beside the altar,

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to the right of the altar, You have here giving and sacrifice, giving and sacrifice. The Romans once had a coin and they had on it an oxen that was facing a plow and facing the altar.

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And underneath was this inscription, ready for either. So you're ready for service, ready for sacrifice, ready for either one. They go together. Where there is no service given with sacrifice, it does not meet God's standard.

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In other words, he commends the widow who comes to the temple and makes her offering, Not because she just came to the temple, not because she joined and sang the temple hymns, but he commends her for her sacrifice. She only had two copper coins. All that she had, she dropped into the offering plate. And Jesus said that there were others who put in more, but she had given more than all of them.

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She had given all she had. That's giving from the heart. Let your heart tell you what to give. They gave according to their love,

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because they first gave themselves to the Lord. So much money was poured into the chest. They filled the chest. They emptied it and they again gathered in abundance. They gave good measures not pressed down but running over because

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they gave from the heart. And because they gave from the heart workers were secured for the temporary pass. The workers were paid.

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The work was completed. The house of the Lord was in a good state, good order. The worship services were strengthened.

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When work on the building was complete, there was enough money left to make vessels for the temple, vessels that were made of silver and gold.

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They gave their best. They gave sacrificially, they gave lovingly, they gave freely of the works of their own hands. So

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the God of Israel had delivered his people and having delivered his people David looks back over their experience and says, "I'd like to build a house for God." He discusses that with the preacher, discusses it with the prophet Nathan.

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Nathan says, "Well, I think maybe that'd be a good thing for you to do." And then Nathan goes to sleep that night and he has a vision and God says he didn't need David to build a house for him. And God really doesn't need us to build a house for him.

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Think of that, building a house for God. What house can contain him? I mean that, Bill. David really needs, he needs to have

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a house for himself in God. And that's what the church is really all about. The church in the world is the concrete expression of the kingdom of God.

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So the church, you see, represents in the world the rule of God in the hearts of people. And so what God really asks of us is a home in our hearts. And if he has a home in our hearts, then he will rule in our lives. That's what makes the church the church, is where God is.

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Boy, it doesn't matter how well trained the preacher is, how many degrees he has, how well the choir sings, and how well the deacons deacon, and how faithful the members are

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in attending the worship service. If God does not rule in our hearts, our hearts, it's not the church. It may be a good entertainment place, but it's not the church. And so what he said to David, you don't need to build God a

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house. Well David didn't. Later Solomon came along and Solomon built the house. And the house that Solomon built was destroyed. That temple was destroyed. So when you look at the pilgrimage of this church,

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how many buildings have we had? Started some 120 years ago, just a few blocks from here, 1875 to be exact. We've had this building and that building.

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This is supposed to be a more permanent building, but it's not gonna last. It's just temporary. And all of the buildings that we have are temporary.

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We stay in them for a while and we move. That house we live in, it's temporary. We live long enough, we'll have to get another one. It's just temporary.

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So what's the future? What's the future of the church? A lot of books out now about the future of the church. They say the church is on its way out.

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As our world becomes more secular, that people have less time for the church. And I can see signs of it. I see some people are a whole lot more enthusiastic

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about going to Las Vegas than they are coming to worship. The more secularization that takes place, and church membership declines, and yet they have not looked at,

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as we look about we find other expressions of the church, the Moslems, are growing. They're growing. You see, God doesn't have to have a church

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by the name of Ebenezer Baptist Church in order to have his way in the world. He can raise up some other group and have it to witness God is free to do

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whatever he wants to do. So what's the future of the church? What's the future of the church? That temple that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar

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and was later destroyed by Rome, is that the church? No, that's not the church. The church somewhere, somehow, is in the hearts of men. That's where God rules.

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And somewhere along the way, there's gonna be an end for all we do. That's gonna be an end of history. That's gonna be an end.

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Some talk about how that end's gonna be. Some say, well, God's gonna have, first of all, a thousand years, and then he's gonna send his son upon the earth.

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Some say, well, no, he'll do it after a thousand years. And so said this Armenian system that we have, as we think about apocalypticism. But that's not the end of church.

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The church goes on. Beyond this veil of wrath and tears, the church goes on. So when we come and worship, we worship in a house, but we recognize that there is a temple above that our pilgrimage

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is directed toward. Unshaken as eternal hills, immovable she stands, a mountain that shall fill the earth, a house not made with hands.

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That's the church. Jesus says, "Upon this rock I'll build my church, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The church will be around.

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When we're all gone, the church will be here, but there is a church, y'all say, beyond the churches of this world, And that's the church of the eternal.

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Because you see, the church is God. It's God's room. It is God himself. So God started something back there in creation.

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When he placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, told them what to do, but they weren't guided by the spirit of God, They were guided by the spirit of the demonic, the devil.

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And then God sent his son into the world to redeem the world. And so that having been driven out of the garden of Eden, that he prepares a garden that's beyond.

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And John got a vision of that garden. He said, "Well, I saw trees with fruit for all manner of experiences. 12, for the 12 months of the year,

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there was fruit for every season. And he said, "Then I saw a temple." And he said that the Lord God himself was the temple. And he said, "For I am the tabernacle of men

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"that you will be with me and I will be with you." There'll be no need to have the walls breached, That there'll be no need for a temple court. We'll just be with God.

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In a world without end. That's the church. That cannot end here. It is eternal.

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And as we sing the hymn of invitation, let every one of us pray in our heart of hearts That someone here will be moved by God's Spirit

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to enter into a relationship with him, unite with his people, unite with the church. We invite you to come. As we say, I surrender.

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We invite you to come. Door of the church is open. We invite you to come. accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life.

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Come. ♪ I to Jesus ♪ ♪ I surrender ♪ ♪ All to Him I freely give ♪

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♪ I will ever love and trust Him ♪ ♪ In His presence, singing ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪

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♪ All to Him, my precious Savior ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to Jesus ♪ ♪ I surrender ♪

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♪ All the earth gives me ♪ ♪ I bow ♪ ♪ Turning flesh and blood ♪ ♪ O Savior ♪

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♪ Thank Thee, Jesus, thank Thee now ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to Thee, my blessed Savior ♪

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♪ Christ the King of all ♪ ♪ All to Jesus ♪ ♪ Christ the King of all ♪ ♪ Make His kingdom holy night ♪

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♪ And He will the Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Sturdy Lord, thou art mine ♪ ♪ Eyes for render ♪ ♪ Eyes for render ♪

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♪ Eyes for render ♪ ♪ Holy and blessed Savior ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ Lord Jesus, I surrender ♪

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♪ All I give myself to thee ♪ ♪ Fill me with thy holy power ♪ ♪ Have Thy mercies on me ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪

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♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to Thee, my blessed Savior ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]