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[size=x-large]Rejoicing Before the Lord: The Sanctuary and Worship[/size]
[size=large]Read for This Week's Study: Exod. 25:1-22; 29:38, 39; Exodus 35; Deut. 12:5-7, 12, 18; 16:13-16[/size].
Memory Text: "And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you" Deuteronomy 12:12.
Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote about a friend who, nearing death, explained his own loss of faith. The man said that from his childhood he had prayed, his own act of private devotion and worship before going to sleep. One day, after a hunting trip with his brother, they were getting ready for bed in the same room, and he knelt down to pray. His brother looked at him and said, "You still doing that?" From that moment on, the man never prayed again, never worshiped again, never exercised any faith. The words "You still doing that?" revealed just how empty and meaningless this ritual had been to him all these years, and thus he stopped.
This story illustrates the danger of mere ritual. Worship needs to come from the heart, from the soul, from a true relationship with God. That is why this week we will look at the ancient Israelite sanctuary service, the center of Israelite worship, and derive what lessons we can from it about how we can have a deeper worship experience.
With Permission From: http://www.ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/11c/less04.html
[size=large]Read for This Week's Study: Exod. 25:1-22; 29:38, 39; Exodus 35; Deut. 12:5-7, 12, 18; 16:13-16[/size].
Memory Text: "And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you" Deuteronomy 12:12.
Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote about a friend who, nearing death, explained his own loss of faith. The man said that from his childhood he had prayed, his own act of private devotion and worship before going to sleep. One day, after a hunting trip with his brother, they were getting ready for bed in the same room, and he knelt down to pray. His brother looked at him and said, "You still doing that?" From that moment on, the man never prayed again, never worshiped again, never exercised any faith. The words "You still doing that?" revealed just how empty and meaningless this ritual had been to him all these years, and thus he stopped.
This story illustrates the danger of mere ritual. Worship needs to come from the heart, from the soul, from a true relationship with God. That is why this week we will look at the ancient Israelite sanctuary service, the center of Israelite worship, and derive what lessons we can from it about how we can have a deeper worship experience.
With Permission From: http://www.ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/11c/less04.html