Transcription
[Music] Greetings in Jesus' name. I'm Bishop Chester Right, and this is the video teaching series, "Praying in the Spirit." And this is part 1 of that series, "Learning How to Pray in the Spirit." And this is lesson number 22, which is the final lesson of part 1. And the Holy Ghost wants to take a different approach in summarizing all of this subject of learning to pray in the Holy Ghost, learning to have, or reaching the place where I have liberty in speaking with tongues.
In this lesson, I want to, I want to talk to you about the collective flows and the direction of those flows. And to do that, I want you to consider two houses of God in the Old Testament. And I want you to look at, and we're going to look at the differences in the focus of the flow of each house. And the purpose of doing that is so that we can examine ourselves by the Word of God, which is one of the main purposes of the Word of God. And we can, by Jesus' name, at the grace of God, that we would be honest with ourselves and compare ourselves and the church that we are leading or a part of, and see what is the focus of the flow of our local part of the house of God.
And I'm not speaking about the building. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2, at the end of that chapter, he talked about us being God's building, and we are a habitation of God through the Spirit, where the temple of the Holy Ghost, he said in other places. So the church is the temple of the Holy Ghost. My body individually is a temple of the Holy Ghost. But when those bodies come together, those individuals come together, there is another completely different dimension of the temple of God. Because my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, singular. But when the church comes together, we are not the temples of the Holy Ghost. We are another singular event or our situation, the temple of the Holy Ghost. Two different dimensions of the same Temple of the Holy Ghost. The one, it is my personal life and experience. And the one that I'm a part of as a member or a part of that temple of the Holy Ghost. And so we need to look at this for a few minutes here. We need to really consider what this is about.
The first house I want you to look at is Solomon's house. I'm going to be reading several scriptures and commenting on them so that you can see what the focus of that house was about. In 2 Chronicles 2 verse 1, "And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdom." So he was building two houses simultaneously. He was building God's temple and his house. Whatever house his father lived in that provoked his father to first say, "What, what am I doing living in this this house that's so luxurious, and God's ark is out there in a three-sided tent?" And that's where God, that's where the whole idea of building a house for God came from.
The Lord told Moses to build a tent, a tabernacle. God never told David to build this tabernacle. God gave Moses very detailed plans for building the original tabernacle. But you won't find any place where God commanded the tabernacle David to be built or gave any plans for it to be built. The tabernacle of David was built by David's desire. David was not of the tribe of Levi, therefore he was not of the tribe, also was not a family of the priesthood, which was one of the families of the tribe of Levi. And he wasn't of the household of that family of Levites that became, that was the household of the high priest. So he had no access inside the walls, the outer walls of the tabernacle. But his hunger for God was so great that the Lord left the holiest of holies and went out to a hillside and fellowshiped with David out there where he built his own house of God, the house of praise. Because David said, "The Lord inhabits the praises of his people."
So while, while there was still the tabernacle, the tent that Moses built, David was out in the wilderness as a shepherd boy building his own house of God with praise, God in heaven, the praises of his people. And David learned how to enter into his courts with thanksgiving, into his gates with praise. Well, David never had the opportunity to do that in his lifetime before he became king and built the tabernacle of David. And the access inside the gates of the tabernacle that Moses built was very limited. But when David brought the Ark of the Covenant back from Obed-edom's house, where it had been deposited after, because it had been captured when Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle by the Philistines. And then they didn't want it because the Ark of the Covenant slew their idols. Their idols couldn't stand upright. They fell down, head and arms broke off. For what it was, so they got rid of it.
So David goes and picks up the ark at the border with the Philistines in a new cart. He's got a new method. We're gonna improve on that old method of carrying it with staves through the rings on the only ark on the shoulders of the priesthood. That's so antiquated. That is so antiquated. We're gonna do a new method. We're gonna build a beautiful cart. And I can imagine it was the best lifted cart ever built in that time. And he had the very best oxen to pull it. And there were two of the chosen priests to ride upon that cart. Well, the problem was, that wasn't God's plan. That wasn't God's way. And so when they got moved, and one of the priests turned and put his hand to steady the ark, and that upset David. Lord, I'm trying to bring your your ark back to Jerusalem. Well, first of all, the tabernacle was in Shiloh, not Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the city of David, but the tabernacle was still in Shiloh. Oh, and by the way, they were still offering sacrifices to an empty holiest of all. Oh, yeah. They were still going through, they were skipping a beat on all everything they normally did every day of the priests. They all, they were still doing the same thing because it had long since become religion to them. Oh, I'm since. So the Ark of the Covenant had been there for a while, but they're still doing their thing.
Well, David had no intention to bring the ark to Shiloh. So when they, when the priests got killed, he put, he just stuffed it, I just sewed, so to speak, and just, he just dumped it in the house of Obed-edom. And he powered all the way back to Jerusalem because God, God didn't accept his way of doing things. But then he heard the house of Obed-edom was getting tremendously blessed. So he humbled himself and with the house of Obed-edom and brought the ark back to Jerusalem, God's way. But when he brought it to Jerusalem, and God never said, "Don't do that." Because David was a man after the heart of God. And David never participated with the tabernacle of Moses, but he built a three-sided tent in Jerusalem and had the ark put in there. That anyone, including David, could come and worship and pray before the ark. Well, God was fine with that because of the hunger and desire for David for God. God was fine with that.
But then David, God begins to really bless David like never before. And he builds himself a house. And he's sitting in a house one day, going, "Wait a minute. I'm sitting here with all this luxury, man's luxury, and the ark of God is out there exposed to the elements on one side in a tent that's not fitting. I'm gonna build God a house." It wasn't his desire for God that built the house. It was his feelings of guilt. And just like it wasn't the will of God for them to have a king, but when they persisted, God gave them a king. In the same way, when David wanted a house built, God said, "Okay, alright. That's what you want. You can't contain me in a house. But if that's what you want." So instead of the ark simply being a visual representation of the presence of God, and never considered the place where God was, but only representative of God, David wanted to build a house where God would have been abide.
Well, God, the heavens and the heaven of heavens can't contain God, much less this house I built. Solomon eventually prayed. But God wouldn't let David build it. So God said, "Okay, your son is going to build it because he's a man of peace. You've been a man of war." Yet, senator, senator, senator, I tell you why, in my opinion, my opinion, why God wouldn't let David build a house, because it disappointed God so much that this one who was a shepherd boy on a hillside who wanted God so badly, that's the heart. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. When shall I come and and before the living God? O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee." Where did that guy go? The one whose hunger was so great, God left the holiest of all to come fellowship with him on a hillside, even though he was of the tribe of Judah and not of the tribe of Levi. And yet, that one, where did that hunger go? That David wanted God to be contained in a house or represented by a house. Where did that go? And God acquiesced. He knew what the outcome of that was going to be. He knew what it was going to be. And yet, as he's done in other situations, he allowed that to happen.
And so, "Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdom." So Solomon's wasn't willing to accept David's house. So Solomon built a house for himself and for God. Hey, hey, everybody knows the more, the more bids you can get on multiple contracts, more bids for contracts you can get on multiple projects, the cheaper the price you can get. So, hey, while we're building the temple of God, we're gonna build my house too. Yeah, yeah. And then verse 5, he says, "And the house which I build is great for God." Actually, let me start back with verse 4. "Behold, I have built an house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbath, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God: this is an ordinance for ever to Israel." Now, the only compromise between the tabernacle and the temple was, everybody could come inside the outside wall and through the outside gates of the temple. And they couldn't with the tabernacle. But here's Solomon, and he's of the tribe of Judah, and he's building a house for all of that. And he can't even go in the actual house itself. He's forbidden to, even though he's king, by the law of God. "The house which I build is great; for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?" And he continues with that. And this is a great read if you want to do that, at 2 Chronicles chapter 2.
Now, we get to 2 Chronicles chapter 6, and the, and the, the tabernacle, the temple is complete. And now it's time to dedicate the temple. And so now I want you to notice the direction of the focus of the people of God for this house, as Solomon prays. "Then said Solomon, The Lord had said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. But I have built thee an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever." "And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel. But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel." Abiding God did that. He did so. So, Allah, because he chose David, because David wanted him like no man had ever wanted him before. I believe God had never said that about any other man. God had never suspended his ordinances that were instituted for the tabernacle to visit and in fellowship with another man like that, to the same degree, ever. In fact, I've said for years that David essentially lived a New Testament relationship with God in the Old Testament. It was a parenthetical time in the history of the Old Testament where everybody had access to God through the tabernacle of David.
"So the Lord said, But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people." Now, Solomon prayed again. "Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. For the for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart to build an house for my name: notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house, but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build an house for my name. The Lord therefore hath performed his word that he had spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel." And he goes on continuing to talk about this. And for time's sake, I am not going to read all of that.
Now, at verse 17, "Now then O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. But will God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; much less this house which I have built. Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry of the people and and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee; That thine eyes may be opened upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that that thou would have put my name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place." In other words, I don't even have to be at that place, just be praying toward that place, not going God in heaven, but toward that house on earth where I'm trying to put God. It is amazing how much God tolerates for us, from us. It's amazing how much God puts up with out of us, as he is working his plan to bring us to his place in him. There's 20. "That thine eyes may be opened upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that that thou would have put that name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place." How many times did we use that in dedicating a new church building?
Verse 21, "Hearken therefore unto the supplications that I servant not people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: Hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive. If a man sin against his neighbour, an oath be laid upon him to make him swear an oath, and he come and swear before thine altar in this house: Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiring that we could be recompense his way upon his own head, and be justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness. And if thy people Israel be put to the worst before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house; Then hear thou from heaven, from the heavens, that forgive the sins of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land, which thou gave us to them and to their fathers. When heaven is shut up, that there's no rain, because they have sinned against thee, yet if they pray toward this place, confess thy name, and turn from their sin, and when thou dost afflict them, then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants and that the people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way." And I'll go on.
Verse 29, "Then what prayer, when there's pestilence, or mildew, or blasting, or caterpillars, then what prayer of what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all people of Israel, when in everyone shall know of his sword and he spits both his hands in this house, then hear thou from heaven, when they pray in this house." And then when the verse 32, "When the stranger, this not of your people, comes from a far country, and they stretch out there, if they come and pray in this house, then hear thou from heaven, that they may know that this house which I have built is called." What? Let me read verse 33. "Then hear thou from him. And if the stranger comes from a far country, and he comes in, and if he pray, it comes and prays in this house, then hear thou from heaven, even from God's dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel; and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. And if there's war, and people pray against, pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast built, and the house which I have built for thy name, hear them, and maintain their cause." And we go and own down. And you could read it for yourself, 1 Chronicles 6. And he's constantly praying about people coming to that house, or praying at that house.
And then finally, verse 39 says this, "Now therefore, excuse me, verse 40. If 39, no, I'll read 38. Okay, yeah. If they return unto me with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gave us unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name: Then hear thou from it the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee." "Now my God, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place; thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, let thy saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant." God is so good. He's so kind. He's so long-suffering. And you need to understand this, not everything he cooperates with, it says, is his will. He knows this frame. He remembers that it's made of the dust of the earth. He knows that in us, in our flesh, there dwells no good thing. And yet, in his kindness and his mercy, as a father, he tolerates some things temporarily that it's not according to his plan and purpose.
2 Chronicles 7 verse 1. "Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house." Yeah, praise God. Just like we get the baptism of the Holy Ghost and we're on fire for God, how long does that last without keeping that renewed in us? I mean, they built this house for God, and he filled it up so much that man couldn't even go into it. And yet, they let that wax and wane until they could enter the house. He wasn't there the same way anymore. And when they entered the house, they took all of that stuff they did in the tabernacle, it moved it into the temple. And now that we've got some things that we can do every day, we can raise a sacrifice, and we can watch the bravery of labor up there, and we can bring fresh bread every day, and we can keep the incense burning, and we can keep the light that holy place set. We can look forward to that one day a year when one of us can go into the holy presence of God. And listen.
After Solomon was through praying, verse 11 of 2nd Chronicles 7, "Then Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, he prospered early affected." So the whole time God was blessing him, build, build the temple, God was blessing him to build his house. "And the Lord appeared unto Solomon by night, and said unto him, I've heard thy prayer, have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. But he said, If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, in fact, I'm in the locust of our land, if I send pestilence among my people, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be opened, and ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house." Not before now, for now, "have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually."
Why would the Lord do that? Because it then became a pattern, a spiritual pattern for what he was going to do through, first of all, the original temple of the Holy Ghost, the man Christ Jesus. That's why he said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up." He was speaking of the, of his body. And then the next manifestation of the temple of God, the body of Christ, the spiritual temple of God, was when the body of the man Christ Jesus, of the, of the head of the body, who is now in heaven, poured out his Spirit so that that could happen. So all of that transitioned. All that transitioned. Now, there is going to be a temple of God on the earth, and it's going to be the body of Christ, both the head and the body, during the Millennium, the millennial reign. And then for all of eternity, there's going to be a temple of God for all of eternity. Revelation 22 says that, except that Christ is going to be that temple. And who is Christ? Well, there's the head, and then there's the body. So we're the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now, if that's the case, if that's the case, then let's talk about the next dimension of that house, and how much it's changed in focus.
Ezekiel chapter 47 verse 1. "Afterward he brought me again under the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east: and the waters came down from under the right side of the house at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way, and look toward the eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. When the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through waters; and the waters were to the ankles. And he measured another thousand, and brought me through; and the waters were to the knees. And again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; and the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that he, I could not pass over: for the waters were risen waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over." And he said unto me, "Son of man, hast thou seen this?" Do you see this? Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river. I am asking you, my brothers and sisters, do we see this? Do we see what God is trying to do in the earth right now? To change the whole focus of the church from everything being pointed back to the church. They were all, I praying toward this building, these buildings. We have all the focus being back toward these buildings. The Lord said, "Do you see what I'm doing? I'm changing the focus of the church. The flowing outward, not flowing inward. An outflow."
At there was only one river. Oh, yes, because that was the river of life, and it was the collection of all of those individual rivers flowing out of each individual temple of God, when they're joined together as the body of Christ, the temple of God. There is a mighty river of life flowing out of the house of God, not any building, but the spiritual building that God himself built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and that he is the chief cornerstone, doctrinally, and he is the builder of this house, and it is his house, his place of habitation in the earth now and forever. His place of habitation, his place of habitation. And then wherever we go, he goes forever. And that's his plan, and that's his will, and that's the change of the focus he's doing right now. Right now, it's the change. It's the focus that he's doing right now. Are we letting him do that? Yes, courtier guy died. It's the change. It's the focus he's doing right now.
And listen, verse 6 again, "And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou now seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river." And this is what God showed Ezekiel, and this is what God wants us to see today. "Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other." That goes back to the first song. Yes, you read about the blessed in the first song, and it talks about us being like trees on the sides of the river. "Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on one side and on the other." And then said he unto me, "These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: the desert is God's land where there's no water. Those people of God who are not where they need to be with God. So that river that flows, supposed to go first to the desert and bring it to life. And then it flows into the sea. And the sea's always been representative of humankind, of mankind as a mass, which being brought forth into the sea, the water shall be healed in Jesus' name. And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, and which moveth, whithersoever the river shall come, shall live: there shall be a great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed and everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth their nets, not fishing line, fishing, but net fishing. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all the trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall that fruit thereof be consumed: they shall bring forth new fruit according to his months because their waters they shall issue because their waters they issue out of the sanctuary: and their fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine."
This is the will of God for the church today. That was, that didn't happen for that, that temple of God that was destroyed. This didn't happen for it. But "the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former." And the latter house, according to Hagee, is the Church of the Living God. It is one house, not many different church buildings, but one house. Wherever that house gathers, where two or three are gathered that in my name, there am I in the midst. Yes, yes. This is the will of God. It is the time of God. It is the plan of God. It is God's will for this to happen now. It's God's will. It's God's will for it to happen now. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I beg of you today to understand that this river starts with each one of us individually coming to the place of being revived and filled and flowing with the Holy Ghost as God purposed and determined that his will would be for each and every one of us, that he would be able to freely flow out of us what he freely flowed into us, that we might be the source, the body of Christ might be the source, from underneath the door of the house of God might flow this mighty river, bringing life and producing much fish and producing much fruit to the glory of God, that his glory might fill the earth.
But there are some, the marshy places, where the flow doesn't get to them, they'll be turned into salt. There won't be any life there, because marshy places can't decide whether they want to be earth or water, flesh or spirit. And the Lord will give them up to be like the Dead Sea, just salt marshes where nothing can live. My friend, I pray for you and I, and for the Church of the Living God today, that in Jesus' name, he would open our hearts, our minds, our spirits, and that we might see and know that He is calling us to the place that He is Lord, that the Spirit of the Lord living us is in charge, that we are submitted and surrendered, our all of our being, heart, soul, mind, and strength, and will are submitted to Him, and that we might have the free flow of the Holy Ghost, that might flow out of us at any time He chooses, any way He chooses, anywhere He chooses, that we collectively might become the headwaters where all these joined fountains are, that this mighty river of God might flow out of us in Jesus' name. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of Jesus, I pray that this would happen now. In Jesus' name. Akashi ka ha ha ha ha. You know, Munna Bhai, yellow root OBO KO SI da da ha.
Now in Jesus' name, let it be so in the church. Let it be so in the earth right now. In Jesus' name, that the river, the river of life, that the river of living water would flow out from underneath the door of salvation of the church into the earth, that we might not only be trees by that river, but we've been the fishermen standing upon the banks of that river, and with our nets all down the full length of that river, we will catch men to his glory, all the way out to the sea. Healing and salvation will come if we will just see. Son of man, do you see this? Son of man, your eyes, the eyes of your spirit, the ears of your spirit, the heart of your spirit, opened to hear, see, and perceive. Believe. Are you ready? Can I be so bold as to ask you, do not just turn this lesson off, but go find a place to pray, and pray until something begins to happen in your life. And then over the next while, continue to pray until God does this work in your life, because you're a temple of the Holy Ghost, and you're a part of that Temple of the Holy Ghost. And every single one of us that doesn't find this flow and move in this flow, limits somehow that river that can and could and is the will of God for Him to flow out of His house into this world. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, God bless you. Thank you for watching this series. And I pray in Jesus' name that you will give God all the thanks and honor and glory for whatever He said to you and done in you and will do through you as a part of the ministry of this word to you. God bless you in Jesus' name. I love you, and Jesus loves you. Amen. [Music]