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Speaker 1: Well, howdy there, friends and faithful listeneris welcome to the

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Speaker 1: Bible Explained Podcast on this lovely Wednesday morning. Today, we're

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Speaker 1: going to finish up Second Chronicles, chapter seven and talk

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Speaker 1: about God appearing to Solomon and this big warning that

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Speaker 1: God actually gives. We'll get into that in just a moment.

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Speaker 1: So thankfully, the snow looks like it is melting. I

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Speaker 1: told you guys, yesterday we got like a snow storm.

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Speaker 1: I had like five inches on my deck yesterday, and

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Speaker 1: now it seems it is going to be melting, which

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Speaker 1: I'm very excited about because we're going to be doing

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Speaker 1: a bonfire with the teenagers this Friday, and the last

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Speaker 1: thing I want is for like a cold, snowy day

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Speaker 1: where it's like just miserable to be outside. So I'm

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Speaker 1: hoping for nice weather for the bonfire. We'll see how

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Speaker 1: that goes. I'm praying for that, actually, But tell me

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Speaker 1: what the weather is like where you're at, and also

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Speaker 1: answer this question, are you already in the Christmas spirit

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Speaker 1: or are you still wishing summer was here? So let

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Speaker 1: me know about that. I'd like to hear about your

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Speaker 1: favorite seasons and whether or not you're already in the

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Speaker 1: Christmas spirit. I can tell you that I am not

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Speaker 1: in the Christmas spirit. I wish summer we're still here,

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Speaker 1: but it is not, and it's something I just have

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Speaker 1: to get used to living in the area that I do.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, in today's portion of scripture, God appears to

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Speaker 1: Solomon with this really strict warning. God actually appeared two

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Speaker 1: times to Solomon before this. The first time was in

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Speaker 1: First Kings chapter three, when God granted Solomon wisdom. He

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Speaker 1: complimented Solomon a lot during that time because he was

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Speaker 1: impressed with Solomon's request for wisdom. And then the second

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Speaker 1: time that God's word came to Solomon was in First

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Speaker 1: Kings chapter six, when Solomon was actually building the temple

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Speaker 1: to God. God told him, if you follow in my footsteps,

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Speaker 1: I will establish your kingdom forever. But now today God

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Speaker 1: is a lot more harsh with Solomon and is giving

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Speaker 1: a far stronger warning to him, even though he has

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Speaker 1: already warned him to follow all of the commandments. So

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Speaker 1: we'll break this passage down and discover why would God

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Speaker 1: be harsh with Solomon, especially after that really nice prayer

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Speaker 1: that Solomon gave and also the dedication of the temple

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Speaker 1: just happen. So why would God give Solomon a warning.

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Speaker 1: We'll discuss all of this today. Let's read Second Chronicles

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Speaker 1: seven twelve through twenty two. I'll be reading from the web.

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Speaker 1: Grab your bible and your cup of coffee and jump

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Speaker 1: in with me. Then, yahweh appeared to Solomon by night

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Speaker 1: and said to him, I have heard your prayer and

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Speaker 1: have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.

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Speaker 1: If I shut up the sky so that there is

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Speaker 1: no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour

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Speaker 1: the land, or if I send pestilence among my people,

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Speaker 1: if my people who are called by my name, will

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Speaker 1: humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their

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Speaker 1: wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive

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Speaker 1: their sin, and will yield their land. Now my eyes

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Speaker 1: will be open and my ears attentive to prayer that

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Speaker 1: is made in this place. For now I have chosen

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Speaker 1: and made this house holy, that my name may be

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Speaker 1: there forever, and my eyes and my heart will be

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Speaker 1: there perpetually. As for you, if you will walk before

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Speaker 1: me as David your father walked, and do according to

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Speaker 1: all that I have commanded you, and will keep my

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Speaker 1: statutes and my ordinances. Then I will establish the throat

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Speaker 1: of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David, your father, saying,

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Speaker 1: there shall not fail you a man to be ruler

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Speaker 1: in Israel. But if you turn away and forsake my

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Speaker 1: statutes and my commandments which I have set before you,

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Speaker 1: and go and serve other gods and worship them, then

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Speaker 1: I will pluck them up by the roots side of

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Speaker 1: my land which I have given them. And this house,

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Speaker 1: which I have made wholly for my name, I will

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Speaker 1: cast out of my sight, and I will make it

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Speaker 1: a proverb and a byword among all the peoples. This house,

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Speaker 1: which is so high, Everyone who passes by, will be

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Speaker 1: astonished and say, why has Yahweh done this to the

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Speaker 1: land and to this house. They shall answer, because they

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Speaker 1: abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them

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Speaker 1: out of the land of Egypt, and took other gods,

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Speaker 1: worshiped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all

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Speaker 1: this evil on them. So the dedication of the temple

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Speaker 1: is now complete. The people are happy, they are fed.

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Speaker 1: They had a week long celebration to dedicate the temple

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Speaker 1: to God, and then they also had a week of

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Speaker 1: other types of like solemn festivities where they would go

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Speaker 1: to the temple and worship God. So it was like

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Speaker 1: a two week long celebration that the people had. So

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Speaker 1: now everybody is back home and God appears to Solomon

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Speaker 1: by night and says to him, I have heard your

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Speaker 1: prayer and have chosen this place for myself for a

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Speaker 1: house of sacrifice. Now, if you remember what we talked

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Speaker 1: about a couple episodes ago, actually last Wednesday, we discussed

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Speaker 1: Solomon's prayer to God, and it was a very long prayer.

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Speaker 1: It was back in the previous chapter, second chronicle seven,

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Speaker 1: and Solomon said all sorts of really nice things. He

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Speaker 1: asked for God's mercy on the people, and and blessed

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Speaker 1: even foreigners that would come and worship at God's temple.

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Speaker 1: So there was a lot of nice things in that prayer.

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Speaker 1: But the one thing that Solomon left out of that

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Speaker 1: prayer was himself. He didn't pray for any future kings,

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Speaker 1: he didn't pray for God's mercy on the kings. He

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Speaker 1: didn't pray for God's mercy on himself. In fact, he

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Speaker 1: didn't admit any sin whatsoever. The entire prayer was like,

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Speaker 1: when these people sin, then please forgive them and bless them.

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Speaker 1: When this person over here does something wrong, please forgive

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Speaker 1: him and bless him. But he never said anything about

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Speaker 1: himself sinning or any of his sons that would come

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Speaker 1: after him. He completely left that out. And I don't

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Speaker 1: know if it was oversight on his parts, like he

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Speaker 1: just didn't think about it because he was concerned with

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Speaker 1: the people, or if he was so arrogant that he

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Speaker 1: kind of thought that all of that was above him,

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Speaker 1: that he wasn't going to break any of these commandments

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Speaker 1: the way the people would. But it's really funny because

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Speaker 1: when God appears to Solomon right here, he kind of

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Speaker 1: gives Solomon a really stern warning about his own sin.

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Speaker 1: And I really do think it was because Solomon just

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Speaker 1: did not pray about his own sin. In verse twelve,

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Speaker 1: Yahweh appeared to Solomon by night and said to him,

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Speaker 1: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place

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Speaker 1: for myself for a house of sacrifice. Now that makes

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Speaker 1: me wonder did God choose the temple because Solomon built it,

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Speaker 1: or did God choose it ahead of time and ask

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Speaker 1: Solomon to build it, because according to this it kind

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Speaker 1: of sounds like God chose it after Solomon dedicated it,

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Speaker 1: even though in that prayer Solomon gives he basically says

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Speaker 1: like multiple times God chose this location and that's why

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Speaker 1: I built this temple. And God has chosen this temple,

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Speaker 1: So I don't know. I mean, God kind of makes

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Speaker 1: it sound like he did not choose the temple until

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Speaker 1: after it was built, which makes some sense to me, actually,

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Speaker 1: because if you guys have been following with me through

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Speaker 1: the entire building process of the temple, you'll remember my

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Speaker 1: viewpoint where I said, I don't think that God necessarily

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Speaker 1: wanted a temple to be built, but he allowed it

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Speaker 1: because of David's and Solomon's enthusiasm over the temple. And

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Speaker 1: also God could see the good that the temple would do,

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Speaker 1: and so he allowed it. But God's original design for

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Speaker 1: worship in Israel was the ten A Meeting. That is

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Speaker 1: what he told his people in the wilderness, is that

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Speaker 1: the tent was supposed to travel around to different locations,

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Speaker 1: and even the Levites who were the priests, were supposed

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Speaker 1: to go out, like spread themselves across the nation to

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Speaker 1: tell God's laws to the people. And that would obviously

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Speaker 1: be a lot more convenient for the average countrymen who

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Speaker 1: maybe can't make a trip all the way into Jerusalem

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Speaker 1: to a temple. But now that the temple has been built,

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Speaker 1: God has accepted it and he has chosen this place

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Speaker 1: for himself, is what he says. So that means that

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Speaker 1: Jerusalem is the chosen place. And whether or not God

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Speaker 1: chose Jerusalem before or after this, I don't really know.

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Speaker 1: There is some biblical evidence that he chose it in

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Speaker 1: the days of David, because David understand that Jerusalem in

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Speaker 1: some way was special and even told Solomon that God

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Speaker 1: had chosen Jerusalem ahead of time. So it's very possible

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Speaker 1: that God did choose Jerusalem to put his name there.

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Speaker 1: He told the Israelites back in the wilderness, someday I'm

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Speaker 1: going to choose a location to put my name in.

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Speaker 1: And so whether or not he did that when Solomon

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Speaker 1: built the temple and David had like foresight or prophecy

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Speaker 1: into this, or whether God did it in the days

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Speaker 1: of David and David understood that, I don't really know.

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Speaker 1: But regardless, Jerusalem is the special place and it still

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Speaker 1: is to this day. This is the place that God

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Speaker 1: has chosen to put his name and we know that

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Speaker 1: because of the Abrahamic religion, Christians, Muslims, and Jews all

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Speaker 1: want their piece of Jerusalem. They all want their hands

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Speaker 1: on it, because there's something special about Jerusalem even to

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Speaker 1: this day. But in verse thirteen, God actually responds to

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Speaker 1: Solomon's prayer right here. Remember the prayer was Solomon asking

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Speaker 1: for God's mercy on the people when they sin, and

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Speaker 1: so God says to Solomon, I will have mercy on

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Speaker 1: these people when they sin. So here's what he says.

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Speaker 1: If I shut up the sky so that there is

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Speaker 1: no rain, or if I command the locust to devour

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Speaker 1: the land, or if I send a pestilence among my people,

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Speaker 1: if my people, who are called by my name, will

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Speaker 1: humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their

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Speaker 1: wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive

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Speaker 1: their sin, and will heal their land. So that's talking

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Speaker 1: about God's punishment. If the people sin by worshiping other gods,

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Speaker 1: or by mistreating and abusing their fellow citizens, or any

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Speaker 1: other number of crimes that they could do, God says,

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Speaker 1: I will punish you in various ways. And those ways

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Speaker 1: are actually listed in both Leviticus twenty six, and also

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Speaker 1: Deuteronomy twenty eight if you guys are curious, because it's

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Speaker 1: a very in depth list of what God is going

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Speaker 1: to do to punish his people. So God says, right here,

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Speaker 1: if I shut up the sky so there's no rain,

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Speaker 1: if I command the locusts to devour the land, or

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Speaker 1: if I send a pestilence, if my people come back

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Speaker 1: to me, if they pray and seek my face and

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Speaker 1: turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.

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Speaker 1: I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.

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Speaker 1: So that is a direct answer to Solomon's prayer, Solomon,

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Speaker 1: I've heard your prayer, and I will in fact have

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Speaker 1: mercy to my people when they come back to me.

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Speaker 1: And this verse is an excellent example of repentance as well,

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Speaker 1: like straight from God's lips, like here is how you repent,

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Speaker 1: Here's how you get back to a good relationship with God.

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Speaker 1: First and foremost, you need to humble yourself. Get rid

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Speaker 1: of the pride, get rid of the arrogance. Anything that

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Speaker 1: is making you feel like your sin is okay or

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Speaker 1: you're not in the wrong. You have to get rid

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Speaker 1: of that and you have to humble yourself and say yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm a sinner, I did something wrong, and then you

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Speaker 1: have to pray. Prayer is very powerful, and even God

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Speaker 1: himself right here commands us to pray to him, to

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Speaker 1: have a relationship with him, to talk with him. That

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Speaker 1: is the point of prayer. Prayer is not stating a

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Speaker 1: well rehearsed speech to God. It is actually talking to him.

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Speaker 1: You are sitting down and having a conversation with God.

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Speaker 1: And you know, the people in Solomon's day, I don't

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Speaker 1: think really understood this. They didn't get that prayer was important,

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Speaker 1: that prayer was powerful. And you can kind of see

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Speaker 1: this in various stories strewn throughout the Old Testament where

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Speaker 1: people didn't understand prayer. For example, the one that comes

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Speaker 1: to my mind is Hannah back in First Samuel chapter one.

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Speaker 1: She was a woman who was unable to give birth.

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Speaker 1: named Panina, and Panina was the worst person ever and

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Speaker 1: just mistreated Hannah every single day because Panana had a

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Speaker 1: bunch of kids. Hannah was so distressed that she went

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Speaker 1: to the tabernacle and she prayed to God. She poured

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Speaker 1: her heart out to God, and she was doing this

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Speaker 1: so fervently that only her lips were moving, but there

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Speaker 1: was like no words coming out. And so Eli the priest,

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Speaker 1: the high priest, he comes up to her and he's

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Speaker 1: really angry because he thought she was drunk in the

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Speaker 1: temple and he's like, get out of here, put your

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Speaker 1: wine away. What do you think you're doing. And Hannah's like, no,

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Speaker 1: I'm not drunk. I promise you, I'm praying to God.

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Speaker 1: The priest. The high priest did not understand prayer in

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Speaker 1: the Old Testament, and a lot of people didn't understand this.

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Speaker 1: And that's why Jesus in the New Testament, when he

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Speaker 1: teaches his disciples how to pray, he tells them pray

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Speaker 1: like this our father, who is in heaven, hallowed be

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Speaker 1: thy name. And the reason he says that is because

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Speaker 1: the people didn't understand that personal relationship with God, like

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Speaker 1: God is their father. They didn't get that if you're

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Speaker 1: calling somebody your father, chances are you have a very

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Speaker 1: close relationship with that person. So prayer is supposed to

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Speaker 1: be very personal. It's supposed to be talking to God

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Speaker 1: your father, and God himself in the Old Testament commands it,

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Speaker 1: especially if you are turning away from your sin, like

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Speaker 1: trying to get into a relationship with God. Once again,

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Speaker 1: prayer is extremely necessary. So you have to humble yourself,

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Speaker 1: you have to pray, and you also have to seek

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Speaker 1: God's face. So what would that be that would be

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Speaker 1: literally searching for Him in your day to day life.

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Speaker 1: This could look like pouring through the scriptures. This could

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Speaker 1: look like asking him questions, waiting for him to show up,

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Speaker 1: having faith that he will show up. These are all

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Speaker 1: things where you're seeking God in your day to day life.

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Speaker 1: And lastly, you have to turn from your wicked ways.

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Speaker 1: So when you identify the sin, you have to first

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Speaker 1: have the humility right to admit that you did something wrong,

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Speaker 1: and you have to turn away from that sin. So

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Speaker 1: you have to stop doing the sin essentially, And when

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Speaker 1: you do these four steps, when you humble yourself, when

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Speaker 1: you pray, when you seek God's face, and when you

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Speaker 1: turn from your sin or your wicked ways, then God

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Speaker 1: will hear from heaven. He will forgive sin, and he

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Speaker 1: will heal the land. And God promises Solomon that he

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Speaker 1: would do that for the people. Verse fifteen. Now my

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Speaker 1: eyes will be open in my ears a tent of

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Speaker 1: to prayer that is made in this place. So people

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Speaker 1: who go to the temple specifically to pray to ask

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Speaker 1: God for help. God will hear those people's prayers. He

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Speaker 1: will be attentive to the prayers that are made in

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Speaker 1: that temple. He says, for now I have chosen and

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Speaker 1: made this house holy, that my name may be there forever,

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Speaker 1: and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.

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Speaker 1: Now you might be like, well, Jen, how is that

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Speaker 1: true if God left the temple not too long after

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Speaker 1: this because of all the corruption coming in. Well, yes,

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Speaker 1: that is true. God did end up leaving the temple,

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Speaker 1: like his presence left the temple. But the one thing

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Speaker 1: I think we forget about God is that he is

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Speaker 1: all encompassing. He is everywhere, all at one time. And

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Speaker 1: so even though he's not in the temple blessing the

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Speaker 1: people anymore because of their idolatry coming into the temple,

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Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that his eyes and heart aren't still

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Speaker 1: in that location. He's still watching what is going on there.

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Speaker 1: He's still listening to what is going on there, but

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Speaker 1: he's no longer blessing the people in the temple because

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Speaker 1: of their sin. So God is everywhere, all at one time.

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Speaker 1: He's far closer than you can possibly think. So of course,

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Speaker 1: his eyes and his heart will be in the place

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Speaker 1: that he chose for himself, will be in Jerusalem. And

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Speaker 1: I believe to this day God still is watching out

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Speaker 1: for Jerusalem, is still in that location, because he says

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Speaker 1: right here, this is a perpetual thing. This won't end.

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Speaker 1: And I mean it's true because if you look in

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Speaker 1: the Book of Revelation, what is the one city, the

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Speaker 1: only city on the entire earth that God remakes Jerusalem?

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Speaker 1: He remakes Jerusalem because his heart and his eyes are

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Speaker 1: going to be there perpetually, back in the days of David,

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Speaker 1: today and in the future. As for you Verse seventeen,

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Speaker 1: if you will walk before me as David your father walked,

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Speaker 1: and do according to all that I have commanded you,

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Speaker 1: and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, then I

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Speaker 1: will establish the throne of your kingdom according as I

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Speaker 1: covenanted with David your father, saying there shall not fail

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Speaker 1: you a man to be ruler in Israel. So now

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Speaker 1: begins the warning to Solomon, where he's like, Okay, Solomon,

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Speaker 1: you kind of forgot to pray about yourself in that prayer.

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Speaker 1: So here's my message to you now you need to

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Speaker 1: follow in your father's footsteps. I really like that God

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Speaker 1: made David as the example to follow because look at

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Speaker 1: the life of David. You know, he was not perfect

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Speaker 1: by any stretch of the imagination. You know, he certainly

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Speaker 1: had his faults, right, he sinned all the time. But

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Speaker 1: because he loved God and was a man after God's heart,

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Speaker 1: God made David the example that other kings should follow in.

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Speaker 1: In fact, if you were with me in the Book

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Speaker 1: of First and Second Kings, you'll see that whenever a

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Speaker 1: king was good, it was because they were following David

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Speaker 1: as the example. It kind of reminds me of what

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Speaker 1: we're talking about on the New Testament side of stuff,

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Speaker 1: where Paul keeps telling the churches to imitate him and

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Speaker 1: the other apostles because the church will have an example

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Speaker 1: to look to, somebody that is following God's word the

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Speaker 1: way they should be. And Paul and the other apostles

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Speaker 1: were also sinful, fallen men, and yet it was okay

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Speaker 1: to imitate them in the good things that they did.

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Speaker 1: And that is what God is telling Solomon right here.

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Speaker 1: Follow in the good things that David, your father did,

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Speaker 1: specifically his heart towards God. David always were ship to God,

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Speaker 1: never turn his eyes to any other foreign deity, not

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Speaker 1: once in his entire lifetime. And God tells Solomon to

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Speaker 1: do that same thing. Don't turn your eyes to other deities.

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Speaker 1: And if you do that, if you worship Me fully

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Speaker 1: your entire life, things will go very well for you.

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Speaker 1: I will always make sure that one of your sons

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Speaker 1: through all the generations, are seated on the throne of Israel.

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Speaker 1: But verse nineteen, if you turn away and forsake my

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Speaker 1: statutes and my commandments which I have set before you,

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Speaker 1: and go and serve other gods and worship them, then

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Speaker 1: I will pluck them up by the roots out of

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Speaker 1: my land which I have given them. I like that

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Speaker 1: God calls the land of Israel his land, because ultimately

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Speaker 1: the entire earth belongs to God. Right, That's actually what

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Speaker 1: scripture says, is that the entire earth is God's, but

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Speaker 1: he gives us little pieces of it because he loves us.

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Speaker 1: He allows us to live on his land. So if

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Speaker 1: the Israelites or the king are shirking their responsibility in

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Speaker 1: God's land, He's gonna take them out of the land.

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Speaker 1: It says He's going to uproot them out of the land.

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Speaker 1: And he says in verse twenty, and this house, which

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Speaker 1: I have made wholly for my name, I will cast

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Speaker 1: out of my sight, and I will make it a

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Speaker 1: proverb and a byword among all peoples. This house, which

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Speaker 1: is so high, everyone who passes by it will be

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Speaker 1: astonished and say, why has Yahweh done this to the

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Speaker 1: land and to this house. And the people will answer

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Speaker 1: because they abandoned Yahweh, the god of their fathers, who

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Speaker 1: brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they

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Speaker 1: took other gods, worshiped them and served them. Therefore he

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Speaker 1: has brought all this evil on them. That is the

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Speaker 1: warning to Solomon. Solomon, this house that you love so much,

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Speaker 1: this temple that you just built, that is so beautiful

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Speaker 1: and so tall and so perfect, I will destroy it

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Speaker 1: completely if you, or your sons, or the people as

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Speaker 1: a whole, if you start to worship other gods, if

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Speaker 1: you bring gods into this temple, I will completely destroy

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Speaker 1: this temple. And that is the warning to Solomon. And

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that was a pretty harsh warning to him,

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Speaker 1: because as somebody who really appreciated beauty, as we know,

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Speaker 1: Solomon definitely appreciated beautiful things. He probably was like flabbergasted

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Speaker 1: over the fact that God would destroy his own temple

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Speaker 1: to punish the people. I'm sure Solomon didn't like hearing

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Speaker 1: that very much. But Solomon needed this warning. He needed

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Speaker 1: it because he didn't pray for himself in that long prayer.

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Speaker 1: And also his heart, as we've seen a few times

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Speaker 1: before already, is showing signs of being a little bit

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Speaker 1: divided from God. Not fully, but a little bit divided.

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Speaker 1: And that is why God comes to Solomon at this

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Speaker 1: moment in time, right after the dedication of the temple,

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Speaker 1: to tell him you need to be very careful to

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Speaker 1: align your heart with me in the future. I think

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Speaker 1: we learned a lot of good information in today's episode.

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Speaker 1: Once again, if you want to have a healthy relationship

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Speaker 1: with God, the four things you have to do is

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Speaker 1: you have to humble yourself so get rid of the pride.

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Speaker 1: You have to pray, you have to seek God, and

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Speaker 1: you also have to turn away from whatever sin you

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Speaker 1: are doing. And those four things are going to give

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Speaker 1: you a healthy relationship with God. Once again, so I

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Speaker 1: enjoyed learning about today's episode with you guys, and I

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Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed learning as well. If you love

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Speaker 1: the podcast, please consider sharing it on your social media platforms,

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Speaker 1: or telling people that the Bible Explained Podcasts exists, or

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Speaker 1: going over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen and rating the podcast five stars. I do read

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Speaker 1: all the reviews you guys give me as well if

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Speaker 1: I see them, and this is one from Vsha thirty one,

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Speaker 1: which says, this show has been everything to me this

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Speaker 1: past month after experiencing some spiritual revelations. I listen to

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Speaker 1: it every chance I get in the car on my

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Speaker 1: lunch break before bed. Jen, Please do not stop what

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Speaker 1: you are doing. I really appreciate that review. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much. I am shocked that you can listen to

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Speaker 1: me for that long and not get sick of my voice.

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Speaker 1: I get sick of my voice after like one episode,

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, yeah, I don't know if I need

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Speaker 1: to talk anymore. And I'm getting to that point right now,

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Speaker 1: so I will let you all go. I hope you

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Speaker 1: have a wonderful rest of your day, happy listening, and

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Speaker 1: God bless