If you can turn your Bibles with me to 2nd Chronicles 6, verse 12, and I'm just going to read a short section and the rest of it I'm going to read as we go through the passage. This is where Solomon and Israel, after they're done building the temple, dedicated it to the Lord.

So what I want to do is follow the pattern that Solomon gives and use that as a pattern for us to come before the Lord and ask for His blessing over our church and over what we are doing. So 2nd Chronicles 6, verse 12-17. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court. And he stood on it, then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven and said, "O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him.

You spoke with your mouth and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel. If only your sons may pay close attention to their way, to walk in my laws as you have walked before me.' Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, let your word be confirmed which you have spoken to your servant David." Let's pray.

Gracious and loving Father, we thank you so much for today. We thank you for this week and as crazy as it was and just through human eyes, just what we as a church together went through. We thank you for all the servants. We thank you for the people that you brought together.

We thank you for the facility that we have where we can focus our energy, Lord God, on the things that matter. We pray, Father God, that this would not be a distraction, but only cause your church to be focused even more. Help us to understand your heart as we search your word.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The dedication of the temple that is listed here in 2 Chronicles and also in the book of Kings is a very important part of Israel's history. Last week we saw that one of the benefits that the Israelites enjoyed was that Paul said theirs was the glory and theirs was the worship.

And one of the most tangible things that he talks about, obviously he's talking about the temple, that there is a physical place that they were able to come and serve and worship God. We want to follow the pattern of this wise man's blessing and there's some prophetic things that he says here that I think would be beneficial for us to just kind of go down the list and I want to follow this pattern with you.

So first thing is after he dedicates the temple, what he does is he builds a bronze platform and he stands on it and he kneels before the nation of Israel to make a public prayer asking the Lord to bless it. And that was the dedication ceremony that he has.

That's the passage that we read. And so after he does that he breaks out into public prayer asking the Lord's blessing. And so the very first thing that he prays for in verse 18, and then we're going to go down the list of things that he prays for. Verse 18, he says, "But will God indeed dwell with man on earth?

Behold heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built." First thing that Solomon does, he acknowledges what the temple is not. Before we get distracted to think that somehow we're a better church because we have a building, has a nice facilities and technology, that somehow we've arrived, that that is not the case.

Whatever problems that we had before we came into the building, we still have it. Whatever things that we need to work on, having a building does not fix it. It doesn't cause us to love Christ more. It doesn't cause us to be better disciples. It's a building. So first thing that Solomon acknowledges that our God is much greater than anything that he could have possibly built.

Can we truly contain God in this small building? First and foremost, he acknowledges and he confesses that it is just a building. It is just a building. It is a better building, nicer building, larger building, better equipment, you know, these things, you know, my voice is bouncing off the wall right now, but we'll fix that, right?

But it's a building. We know that in the end, the church is not the building. If people are attracted to come to church because we have a nice building, that is not the church that ultimately honors God. So first and foremost, we have to recognize what it is not.

It does not make us better. It does not make us stronger. It doesn't cause us to have to have better disciple making. It doesn't cause us to be better organized. We do have better facility, right? And don't get me wrong. I'm excited. I'm excited to be here. And part of the reason I'm excited really was this week because this week physically watching the church physically build the church.

And I remember I think it was Jason who said he showed up one night and he thought he was going to do some cleaning and light touching and maybe screwing some screws. And then he realized, shoot, we're actually building the church. You know, we had to put beams inside the church building and really we could not have done it without the church.

I'm more excited about that, you know, that we can take ownership together of this church. But in the end, we need to first and foremost acknowledge before we do anything else that it is a larger room with better facility. But despite that, the second thing that he says in verse 19, he says, yet, although there's no way that we can capture your glory just because we have a better building.

So yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, oh Lord, my God, listen to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place and listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place and listen from heaven, your dwelling place.

And when you hear forgive the benefit of having a larger building that we can have more people praying and seeking the Lord, that despite the fact that it's just a building, building is a blessing. It is a blessing because our children can be taught Sunday school. Our parents don't have to worry about our kids running around in the parking lot.

We have a place where we can have prayer meetings. We have a place where we can have Bible study. But more than anything else, that if the church is not a place where we meet God, then it just becomes a building. Then it just becomes walls. It just becomes superficial.

It has to be first and foremost a place where people come to meet God, to cry out to God, to meet with him. I remember when I was back in college, there's this particular chapel at Biola. I was on that campus for four years undergrad and a couple years in grad school.

I was on that campus for about seven years. And during those seven years was probably when my faith was challenged and I grew the most. I was discipled and there were periods of hardship in life and loneliness. And I remember that there's a particular chapel. Those of you guys, I don't know, some of you guys may know this campus, Rosemayor Chapel.

When I was going there, they had it open 24/7. So I remember countless number of days and hours I would spend in the morning and the afternoon and sometimes just sit there. I don't have anything particular to say, but it was a time, it was a place where I could go to fellowship with my heavenly father.

And there were many, many times I would just sit there and say, I have nothing to say, but I just want to be, I just want to commune with the father. So when I think about meeting God, that place, that particular place has special meaning for me because I spent so much time in that room.

I pray that our church facility will have that kind of impact on you. That when you think of the church, you don't think about the nice facilities and different things that you have, but this is the place that you would come to meet God. That many, many years from now on, whether you are still attending this church or not, when you think of these years, that you can say, I remember sitting there crying out to the Lord.

I remember going into that room, having deep conversations where I met with him and I cried with him. And when I was lonely, this is the place I went and I pray as Solomon was praying, that despite the fact that it's just a facility, that God would bless this facility as a place where we'd have deep spiritual meaning and memories of meeting the Lord.

That this truly would be a house of prayer. He continues to pray in verse 22. He says, "If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, then hear from the heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness." His second prayer, and he opens up a long list of different prayers, particularly dealing with sin.

And the first thing that he mentions is fellowship, because there's nothing that ruins genuine worship and meeting God when there's contention in the church. Now, obviously, whenever there's contention, it's always the other person's fault. There's a reason why Jesus says in Matthew 5, 22, "Before, not during, not after, before you come to the altar, if the brother has something against you, go and deal with it.

Reconcile with him before you come, because it's going to hinder your worship." There's nothing that ruins the church's prayer, the church's worship, the church's singing, disciple making, than contentious relationships. And that's why the first thing that he prays and recognizes, "Lord, hear our prayer." The first thing that he prays is, "Help us in our community that we would love one another." In Matthew 6, the Lord's Prayer, he says, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." That is a requirement of coming before the Lord.

That if I want my prayers heard, first and foremost, learn how to forgive, learn how to receive forgiveness. Then he goes on and he talks about when disaster, when God disciplines because of sin, and we recognize that that is the case, that we would have enough sense to come to the Lord and repent.

And when we repent, that God would hear our prayers. If you look at the bulk of the content of Solomon's prayer and dedication, it's about dealing with sin. Dealing with sin against each other, dealing with sin because we've disobeyed God and disaster comes and we go to fight and we are defeated.

There's famine that's coming, there's a drought that comes, and he says, "When these things happen for the purpose of disciplining and you recognize the problem is our own sins, and to recognize that the only solution to these things is to come before the Lord in prayer, say, 'Please forgive us.'" See, the greatest purpose of this building, of our congregation, is reconciliation with our Father.

We can build great communities, we can have great children facilities, and we can have great social justice programs and all of these things. But when Jesus says, "My house will be a house of prayer," first and foremost, it's a calling for reconciliation, to be reconciled with God. Everything in Israel's history, all of their system, all the temple worship, every prophet that prophesied, all of it, at the core of it, is about reconciling with God.

So the dedication of the temple is a dedication to come before the Lord is, "When I repent, would you hear?" Every single Christian that comes to this room must first and foremost come humble before the Lord. Not with the idea of somehow I'm going to improve the church by doing this or doing that.

First and foremost, to humble themselves and seek his face. See, in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9, it says, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives." Do you realize that when Solomon is praying these things, that he is admitting the propensity of Israel to sin?

This is the beginning of Israel's history. This is at the peak of Israel's history. During Solomon's reign, Israel was the most powerful. They were the most wealthy. So humanly speaking, they would have naturally thought that the Lord blesses us. We must be doing something right. We're able to go and conquer.

Solomon did not experience much defeat among the enemies. So when he's praying these things, it's because he recognizes in his wisdom the propensity to sin. And that's exactly what it says in verse 36, "If they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin, and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away, captive to a land far or near." Remember when he prays this prayer?

It was hundreds of years before Israel was taken into captivity. It is at the peak of Israel's success, he prays this prayer. Because we have a propensity to sin, and when you bring judgment upon us, and we are taken away to the foreign land, and we recognize that it was our sin, and when we repent, would you forgive us?

It is our propensity to sin why Christ came and died for us. It is our propensity to be proud, to seek after things that do not honor God. And this is the reason why Christ came. This is why he established the church, and he said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." See, this dedication of the temple in his wisdom recognized, we need Jesus.

Now Solomon never mentions the name Jesus, because it was hundreds and hundreds of years before that is fulfilled, but everything about the temple was about the preparation of the coming of Christ. And so he says, "When we sin, not if we sin, not if we mess up, but when we sin, and we recognize it, would you hear our prayers?" You know, but what's also interesting, he doesn't stop there.

He goes even further in verse 32. He prays, "Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people, Israel, comes from far country for the sake of your great name, and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls you to do, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name." Israel's constant problem was they became insulated.

In fact, the whole book of Jonah is a rebuke to the nation of Israel. What's it to you if I want to be merciful to the Ninevites? And so the book ends in rebuke, and it wasn't just a rebuke to Jonah. It was about the whole nation of Israel.

God said, "You are my holy nation, a royal priesthood to declare his glory." To where? To the world. Solomon, recognizing the propensity for the nation of Israel to become insulated and forget the foreigners, not realizing that God is for the world, not just for them. He prays for foreigners that when they come, that they would be received.

Our church has entered the 20th year. We're going to have our anniversary, and I think that one of the biggest temptations and the struggles that we need to watch out for is that after a few years, we no longer function and have vision as a church plant. You know, when the church is first planted, we have this vision of reaching out to the lost, bringing non-Christians, and we evangelize and tell our friends and our neighbors and coworkers.

But at some point in the growth of the church, we get to a point where we say, "Well, that's enough about outside. What about us?" And we forget why Christ established us. See, I think it is a grave danger when we forget that we're here as Christ's church. He established this church for His glory and ultimately for the gospel to go out to the remotest part of the world.

That's why if you look at the book of Acts, chapter 8, you know the conversion of the eunuch? And it's a strange part in the story because gospel begins to spread, and all of a sudden randomly this eunuch, Ethiopian eunuch appears, and he's reading Isaiah 53, and then he says, "Well, who's going to tell me this thing?" And Philip the Evangelist says, "Well, that's talking about Jesus." And, "Well, if that's the case, I want to believe." And he gets baptized and he's gone.

And this is all the history of how the early church started, and all of a sudden in Acts, chapter 8, eunuch appears and he disappears, gets baptized, and he's gone. What was the point of that story? How does that fit into the narrative of the early church? In fact, if you look carefully, you'll know that the conversion of the eunuch was very symbolic because there is prophecy in the book of Isaiah that specifically says that when the gospel comes, the kingdom will be open to the Gentiles and to eunuchs because these were people that were considered unclean.

So it was symbolic in Roman. If you know the outline of the book of Acts, the gospel begins to go out from Jerusalem to Judea, to the remotest part of the world, in Acts, chapter 9. So in Acts, chapter 8, is where the eunuch gets converted and a Jew reading this would automatically realize the gospel has been opened to the world.

See, God's intent was always the world. People constantly ask me, "At what point will you be satisfied with the growth of the church?" And I know there's a tinge of sarcasm in there asking, "When will your ego be satisfied? Are you looking to make a mega church? At what point are you going to say it's big enough?" Sarcasm is my gift, so I usually respond in sarcasm and I'll say, you know, "7.4 billion." That's the number I have in mind.

Obviously, what I mean by that is the church wasn't planted ultimately so that we can have a nice community of people, raise our children together, and then our children will marry each other, you know what I mean? And we're all family and great. Like local church, everybody's here and generations of people living together.

The church was not planted for that reason, ultimately. Those are all blessings that we have, those are all benefits that we experience, but in the end, it was for the world. And we should not be satisfied until the world is reached. He said when the gospel has gone to the most part of the world.

We have to be careful that we don't create an environment or culture in a church where only certain people are welcome, people who are like us, who's going to add to us. A church, a real church, a church that God blesses, should be filled with all different kinds of people that we would never run into each other if we weren't Christians.

People that we would never talk to if we weren't Christians. People who we would never live next to if we weren't Christians. That's the beauty of the church. All age, all culture, all background, whoever that we're surrounded by, that we're not here to be insulated so that we can create a nice Asian American community.

Hopefully, that we would recognize that and even Solomon at the very beginning of the opening of the temple, he went to pray that they would not forget that vision. That when the foreigners come, that they too may be able to worship you. After his prayer, it is concluded where God shows up in 2 Chronicles 7.

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. So God responds. How does he respond to his request? I mean, this was a good, godly prayer. Recognizing their sin, recognizing their calling, asking the Lord to bless and humbling themselves.

It was a good prayer. And so God, recognizing this, responds. And his response? He shows up. God shows up. When God shows up, worship happens. You know, we can talk about all the problems in the church. We can talk about all the communication, all this stuff, and all of these things that, you know, we want to do better, we want to work on.

But in the end, what makes a church a church is God's presence. It's God's presence. God shows up in his glory, fills the temple, and the priest could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord in the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." It's great that we have a great sound equipment.

It's great that we have this building. It's great that we have talented people, dedicated people, the finances to do what we want to do. But all of that would be for nothing if God is not here. What makes a church a church is that this is a place where we come to meet the Lord.

Now, of course, we know that God is omnipresent, that he's not just here. But there's a special blessing when the congregation gathers together for corporate worship, for corporate prayer, to work together toward missions, to evangelize, to build a church. But in the midst of all of that, worship, that we try so hard to get right every single week.

There's a lot of people laboring so that worship can happen. Parking attendants, those of you who are here today enjoying this, there's tons of people who've been here all week cleaning up, setting up. Every little thing that's going around here was set up this week. There are people here late till yesterday cleaning up, getting this ready.

And even now, we have dozens and dozens of people running around the church making sure that it happens correctly. Sound room, these speakers, all of these things were hard labor. What we are working so hard to have, and all of these things, again, it's because God has blessed us that we're able to do this.

But in the end, true worship is when we encounter God. When we encounter God, when God shows up, they just fall down and worship. And let me conclude what he says in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, 15. In response to Solomon's prayer, God says to the nation of Israel, "If my people who were called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place." As we dedicate not simply this building, but our church, you and me, using this church as an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to the Lord, that we would follow the same pattern first and foremost, before we gear up and say, "I'm going to do it," first and foremost, humble yourselves and pray.

Recognize that all our hard work would be for nothing if we do not humble ourselves and pray. Humble ourselves, pray, seek his face. That this is a church, this is a place, Bible study, Sunday school, our fellowship time, anytime we gather together, our primary purpose is to seek him and then ultimately turn from our wicked ways, our propensity to sin and stray away from God.

And God promises, "Then I will hear from heaven, then I will forgive your sins and I will heal the land and my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place." At Rosemary Chapel at Biola, I don't have to make much effort to pray in that room.

And I know it's emotional, because I have some ties, but I have so many memories. And sometimes you know how you go to certain places and certain smells and certain things kind of trigger memories. I sit in that chapel and I remember years of praying and weeping at times in that chapel.

And I would sit there and the moment I sit down, I sense the Lord. I pray that this church will be that for you. That this is a place where you can meet the Lord, that where you seek him, where you pray to him. And I know we have problems, I know things we have to work on, but let's not be distracted for the real reason why we're here.

You know, normally I don't write out my prayers, but I wrote out my prayer today and I want to follow the pattern that Solomon gave. And I want to pray for the Lord's blessing, following the pattern that he gave. And then afterwards our prayer team will come up and I'm going to invite you to take some time to pray along with us.

But again, follow along with me, you know, pray with me as I pray this prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for being patient with us and so faithful with all of your promises. You truly are a God of compassion and mercy. Your righteous judgment and decree is true from generation to generation.

We want to dedicate this church to you for your glory. Let this place be a place where we truly love one another as Christ loved us, that the world will know we are his disciples. Help us to make every effort to live in peace and unity with one another in genuine love before we come to worship each week.

I pray that our fellowship will be a reflection of your patient love for us. Protect us from the devil's work to divide and conquer. Protect us from our own pride that causes us to want to be heard rather than to hear. Help us to desire to serve rather than to be served.

We pray that Berean Community Church will be a place where sinners will find forgiveness and refuge in you. Help us to embrace and love the outcasts and hurting sinners. I pray that you would protect us from becoming self-focused, but to look upward and outward at all times. Help us to recognize that you are sovereign over all things, that we may turn to you as our primary answer.

Help us to walk in the spirit at all times and not grieve the spirit in how we live and build this church. We pray that when you send the lost and heavy laden, that they would find a home in your earthly kingdom. Help us to never forget why you've established this church and sent your only begotten son to die for this church.

Help us to love whom you love and to bring the light to the dark world we live in who are desperate in need of reconciliation with you. Help us to recognize that true victories in Christ can only be had in abiding in him. We pray that the leaders will be humble servants more than dynamic leaders, men of righteousness, above reproach, first to serve and last to react in anger.

We pray that we would be first lover of Christ and his church before lovers of anything else. We pray that Berean Community Church will be a house of prayer above all things where people can come and meet with you. Hear our prayers and be attentive to the singing and worship given to you in this place, Lord.

Amen.