You are Not Your Own

“Then David said to all the assembly, "Now bless the Lord your God." So all the assembly blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Lord and the king.” 1 Chronicles 29:20 (read entire chapter)

"Stand up and bless the Lord your God Forever and ever! "Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!” Nehemiah 9:5b

 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Please reread the passage from 1 Corinthians.  How often have you reflected on the thought that you are God’s?  If we fully embraced this, would it affect the places we go and the things we do?  Think about your Bible, would you use its pages to clean a baby’s bottom? How about to roll up a ‘joint’?  Surely none of you would do either of those things, thinking “No, I could never use God’s Holy Word to do something so dirty or wrong!”  What about God’s holy _(insert your name)?  Every day we have the opportunity to give glory to God in all that we do.  Where will you take and use the Lord’s instrument?

1 Chronicles 29 brings us to the transition of power from King David to his son, Solomon.  This was the pinnacle of the nation of Israel’s worldly kingdom.  The first part of the chapter speaks of the preparations David and his people had made for the temple; that David had longed to build.  David gave much of his personal riches toward the building of the temple, and the people did also.    Verses 10-19 give a beautiful prayer by David praising God for all he’s done.   Israel also was called to praise at its low points also.  Nehemiah 9 shares a prayer given while the city and temple were still in shambles, after the people had been chastised for their unfaithfulness.  The Lord is worthy of praise in all seasons of our lives, and whether we have grand supply or bare necessities. 

As the prayers mentioned above, we recognize God as the source of all blessings and resources.  Israel was never blessed to make ‘Israel’ better, it was intended to bless the world (Zec 8:13), and glorify God.  Such it is with us today.  God showers us with blessings, yet they are not for our own consumption.  He calls us to minister to others with what we get.  You have been given spiritual gifts to share with others, along with material blessings.  A grand showing of this was the efforts shown in VBS this week.  Many of you gave your time, efforts, and money to minister to the kids.  Do not slow, ministry is every day!