Worship in God’s HouseEcclesiastes 5:1-7 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.I. Ecclesiastes 5:1: Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God 1. Feet are historically indicators of the direction our lives are following. a. 2 left feet an indicator of clumsy walking b. foot in mouth can mean clumsy talking c. footloose can mean clumsy living d. foot in grave is not a good thing unless you dig those for living e. We measure things by the foot. Heights: some people are tall and some are not. Distances: I’ll walk a mile in your shoes as long as long as you don’t give me blisters Depths: It is one thing to dive in a pool another to sky dive. (for those of you taking notes, reference: foot in grave) Area: real estate is measured by square foot. That is great if you own it but expensive if you are buying it hotdogs: Hmmm what do we do with these extra parts? Make longer hotdogs!! f. Needless to say the word foot is important to our lives. 2. Ecclesiastes 5:1: Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear Keep in the Hebrew is: SHAMAR: Protect...preserve...hedge about as if walking among thorns Foot in the Hebrew is: REGEL: foot...but Also journey or path.. Protect your Path Watch your step Yet another meaning of REGEL IS time 3. So when we go into the house of the Lord we are told by Ecclesiastes 5:1 to watch our step and walk with care and respect - and listen to this...preserve our time there. We are to enter into this place with expectation We are to respect the presence of the Lord. Exodus 3:5 says that when we go into someone else’s home we know to respect their ownership of that home. We should seek to honor the rules of the house I have been in homes where the owners take off their shoes when they come in. Hey in my house I don’t want to see your feet! You don’t want to smell mine! It is not customary to take your shoes off at church But then again we should obey the owners desires... God desires our undivided singular focused worship. Just like you wipe your feet before you enter a home We need to start our worship before we enter the House of God Wipe all of our distractions on the rug before we come to church. Preserve and protect this time for Jesus!! Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear Be MORE READY TO HEAR!! BE MORE READY TO WORSHIP!! BE MORE READY TO FIND JESUS!! PRAISE THE LORD!! HALLELUJIAH!! LET’S GET READY TO WORSHIP JESUS THIS MORNING!! II. The Next Part of Ecclesiastes 5 verse 1 is: than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 1. The reason God wants our attention and dedication is that he wants our discernment. 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Know God’s word!! When we come into the house of the Lord we are to prepare ourselves with knowledge as well!! Than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. There are churches this morning not preaching the word. There are churches where its all emotion and not enough devotion. There are churches that claim to be about the spirit but are so much about the flesh! Being Spirit filled is a lifestyle not an event!! If you are Spirit filled you live the life and bear the fruit!! Oh don’t get me wrong folks When we are baptized by the Holy Spirit it is a BLESSED event. A life CHANGING event But then God gives us something to determine whether the event was acceptance of Jesus or just emotion Galatians 5:19-23: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 1Samuel 15:22: And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Praise Jesus for the Word of God!! The Word of God is WELCOME here!! Don’t give sacrifice to fools!! God does not want your sacrifice - He wants your obedience!! III. Ecclesiastes 5:2:Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 1. Be careful before you say something whether it be to God or to man. 2. God sits in heaven and we are on earth Proverbs 21:2: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. 2Corinthians 3:2: Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: IV. Ecclesiastes 5:3: For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. 1. Dreams are great! 2. Vision is great! 3. But if we do not get to the business end our dreams are just words! 4. This means that we have to be ready to do the work!! 5. This is the one of the closest things in your bible to the saying: “God helps those who help themselves!” 6. Notice what the Word of God says next: “For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.” Tina and I went to the New Covenant Bible Institute graduation Saturday. We went so Tina could sing and they asked me to say a few words. The school meets at Denton Assembly of God and the pastor of that church, Glen Daniels, told me they were getting new pews and asked if we would like their old ones! Wow! There are 19 of them and we don’t have room for them here so we need to pray and be ready for when God moves us to the place where we will have room for them. Hope Chapel is going to grow we need to do the work!! Pray Invite people to church Show them how it glorifies your life But do not just do it once Do it continually!! V. Ecclesiastes 5:4: When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 1. God never breaks His promise to us. 2. Why do we continually fail Him? Psalms 66:13-14: I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. 3. Oh when we are in trouble, PRAISE GOD, we are quick to make deals. 4. Don’t make deals with God!! 5. Obey Him!! 6. Pay your vows out of obedience not necessity or sacrifice!!! VI. Ecclesiastes 5:5: Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 1. Guard your footsteps 2. Follow God’s will and not your desires 3. Keep silent when your Heart is not pure! 4. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 5. A dream cometh through the multitude of business not a collection of foolish vain words 6. Commit to Jesus and remain committed. 7. Pastoring is a ministry for life. 8. People who say “I used to be a pastor...” No way! You were either lying then or you are lying now!! 9 When you have time read Acts Chapter 5 about Ananias and Sapphiria. 10. God does not take kindly to vain vows or promises!! VII. Ecclesiastes 5:6: Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? 1. Proverbs 6:2: Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. 2. Watch what you say! 3. Be like Job: Job 27:4: My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. Psalms 51:15: O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. Proverbs 8:7: For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. Psalms 141:3: Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. VIII. Ecclesiastes 5:7: For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. 1. It is ok to dream 2. But we cannot live in a dream world 3. Some people dream that there are no consequences for their actions 4. They believe in divers vanities or just a world of nothingness. 5. FEAR THE LORD THEY GOD!! 6. GOD IS ALIVE AND ON THE THRONE! IX. Ecclesiastes 5:8: If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. 1. You know just because the rest of society thinks it is okay does not mean it is! 2. TV shows funny beer commercials with everyone laughing and having a good time 3. They don’t show the ones where a husband beats his wife because he is too drunk to reason. 4. The do not show the ones where a life is taken away because of a drunk driver crashes into an innocent person’s car and tragically ends their life. 5. Just because society believes it is okay to have premarital sex does not mean it is. 6. But it is okay to follow God’s word just because 7. Just because He died for me 8. Just because I was once a lonely sinner 9. Just because He found me and washed away my sins 10. Just because He gave me eternal life 11. And, He did so just because He loves me so 12. He loves you as well 12. Maybe today you want to accept Him as your Savior Back to Hope Chapel
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