(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Welcome to First Works Baptist Church, if you could please turn your song books to song number 167, All Hail the Power of Jesus Name, song number 167. Song number 167, go ahead and please stand with me on the first verse. All hail the power of Jesus name, let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth our royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all. Bring forth our royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, we ransom from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Him who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every trod, on this terrestrial ball. To Him all majesty a scribe, and crown Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty a scribe, and crown Him Lord of all. The last, oh that with yonder sacred throne, we at His feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting soul, and crown Him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting soul, and crown Him Lord of all. Let us pray. Father, thank you for this wonderful and beautiful day that you've given us. Father, I just pray for the preaching to come, and also that our voice may glorify you, and you please bless it in Jesus name. Amen. You may please be seated. Our next song, He Leadeth Me, song number 116. He Leadeth Me, song number 116. Song number 116 on the first verse. He leadeth me, O blessed, thoughtful words, with heavenly comfort fraught. What e'er I do, what e'er I be, still discuss Him that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful Father I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. Sometimes, mid scenes of deepest gloom, where reedents, bowers bloom, my water still cold, troubled sea, still discuss Him that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful Father I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine, content whatever thought I see, since discuss Him that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful Father I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. And when my task on earth is done, when by Thy grace the victory's won, in death's cold wind I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful Father I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. Great singing. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements here before we see our next song, which will be 115 No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus, song number 115. If you want to get that ready in your song books, just a few announcements. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 10 30 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. Today was the birthday breakfast, so happy birthday to you all in the month of October. Please continue to pray for the list of expecting mothers there, and of course once again congratulations to Ms. Rhea on the birth of their daughter, and so congratulations to them. And then you see the important reminders there at the bottom. Some of the upcoming church events this coming Saturday, October 7th, is the Lady's Prayer Breakfast. That'll be, excuse me, that'll be at the building at 10 a.m. You can see Ms. Janelle Gonzalez for more details about that. She heads that up. And then on Friday, October 27th, is the Homeschool Park Day. Melissa pays baby showers on Sunday, October 29th, and the big thing we got going on for the month of October is the beginning of our fall program on Sunday, October 29th. We want to have a really big push for visitors on that day. Okay, so I want to challenge our church to invite your family, friends, co-workers, get someone to come on that day, and it'll be a visitor friendly type service. So don't worry, I'm not going to be, you know, talking about sodomites or, you know, reprobates, although maybe some of you would actually prefer that. But, you know, I'll leave that day open for a more palatable sermon, okay. But that'll be the beginning of our fall program, and we're going to give a gift card to first, second, and third prize winners of those who bring the most visitors on that day. And so then we're going to have, we're also going to have the pie baking contest and a couple other things, and of course leading up to the Thanksgiving banquet. So just keep that in mind there. We're looking forward to a great fall program, and you see the regular reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. One last thing I forgot here, please announce if you're interested in signing up your child for this year's Christmas program, please sign up at the Usher station tonight. The first practice will be held next week after the morning service, and so this is something we do on a yearly basis. We're this close not to not having it, but we're actually going to have it, and so if you want your child to participate in that, make sure you sign up in the back. If you have any questions, you can see brother Maury Lemons. He's going to be the one heading that up this year. Of course, he did a great job with the team last year, so we're looking forward to that. Let's go ahead and take some so many numbers from this past week. Salvation's from Monday to Thursday. Any salvation's from Monday to Thursday, Friday and Saturday? Two. Anybody else? How about this afternoon? Two. One. Two. One. Okay, anybody else? Going once, twice, thrice. Okay, keep up the great work. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. 115. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. Song number 115. Song number 115 on that first verse. I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus. Since I found in him a friend so strong and true. I would tell you how he changed my life completely. He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me. All my heart was full of misery and low. Jesus placed his strong and loving arms about me. And he led me in the way I ought to go. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me on the last. Every day he comes to me with new assurance. More and more I understand his words of love. But I'll never know just why he came and saved me. Till someday I see his blessed face of love. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Great singing. As the ushers come for the offering please turn your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10. So so so good evening tonight we're in leviticus chapter 10 and the bible reads the sons of Aaron took either of them his censor and put fire there in and put incense there on and offered strange fire before the lord which he commanded them not and they went out of fire from the lord and devoured them and they died before the lord then moses said unto Aaron this is it that the lord spake saying i will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people i will be glorified and erin held his peace and moses called me shael and elzaphan and sons of the uncle of erin and said unto them come near carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp so they went near and carried them in their coats out of the camp as moses had said and moses said unto erin and unto eliezer and unto ithamar his sons uncover not your heads neither rend your clothes lest you die and let's wrath come upon all the people but let your brethren the whole house of israel the whale the burning which the lord hath kindled you shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle and of the congregation lest you die for the anointing oil of the lord is upon you and they did according to the word of moses the lord spake unto erin saying drink not wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest you die it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and that you may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean and that you may teach the children of israel all the statutes with the lord had spoken unto them by the hand of moses moses spake unto erin and unto eliezer and unto ithamar his sons that were left take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the lord made by fire and eat it without leaven beside the altar for it is most holy you shall eat it in the holy place because it is thy due and thy sons do of the sacrifices of the lord made by fire before so i am commanded and the way of breasts and the heave shoulder shall you eat in a clean place thou and thy sons and thy daughters with thee for they shall be thy do and thy sons do which are given out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the children of israel the heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire the fat for to for to waive it for a wave offering before the lord and it shall be thine and thy sons with thee by a statue forever as the lord hath commanded and moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering and behold it was burnt and he was angry with eliezer and athemar the sons of erin which were left alive saying war for have you not eaten the sin offering in the most in the holy place seen as most holy and god hath given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation to make atonement for them before the lord behold the blood of it was not bought in within the holy place you should indeed have eaten it in the holy place as i commanded and erin said unto moses behold this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the lord and such things have befallen me and if i had eaten the sin offering today should it have been accepted in the sight of the lord and when moses heard that he was content let's pray to the lord god thank you for every soul here right now at this church and uh we just pray that you bless this uh sermon right now that uh pastor is prepared for us and fill him with the spirit lord as he preaches unto us and that we're edified by the preaching learn something new out of your word lord and we just pray that you bless this time we pray this in jesus name amen amen okay tonight's sermon is entitled strange fire strange fire look at leviticus chapter 10 and verse number one it says in nadab and by whom the sons of erin took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the lord which he commanded them not and there went out fire from the lord and devoured them and they died before the lord then moses said unto erin this is it that the lord spake saying i will be sanctified in them that come nigh and before all the people will be glorified glorified and erin held his peace and this evening i'm going to describe and talk about what it means when the bible talks about strange fire okay and what this particular story is referring to here what is it talking about of course what we have here are the sons of erin fulfilling the office of a priest and they're part of their responsibility is to offer incense and fire upon the altar of incense in order to worship the lord and these are certain things we're going to go into what that specifically means in a bit but apparently they offer strange fire strange meaning what foreign something that's not sanctioned something that's not authorized in the eyes of god and they pay a severe consequence because of it and in fact verse two tells us that they went out of fire from the lord and devoured them and they died before the lord and let me just say they died before everyone else as well okay they're simply burned to a crisp and they are brutally destroyed before the children of israel as an example of what not to do now before we get into what's taking place here go to chapter nine and look at verse 22 here i want to i want i want to point out first and foremost that they didn't do a really good job fulfilling the office of a priest on their first day because from chapter seven eight and nine they're literally being deputized as the priest in the house of the lord they're being sanctioned to fulfill these duties they're being given the garments they're being anointed and it's just like all right here's your first day on the job you got all the instructions what is it that you have to do and then right off the bat they offer strange fire okay now look at verse 22 it says the heir lifted up his hand toward the people and blessed them and came down from offering of the sin offering and the burnt offering and peace offerings and moses and aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and blessed the people and the glory of the lord appeared unto all the people now keep in mind this is after all the instructions right after the garments have been distributed after the anointing has taken place after all the instructions of what they're supposed to do in the house of god describing all the accoutrements and what they're supposed to be doing in detail all that takes place they begin to offer these sacrifices verse 24 says and there came a fire out from before the lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offerings and the fat which were which when all the people saw they shouted and fell on their faces so what is god doing here he's off he's obviously rolling out the red carpet for the institution of the animal sacrifices because obviously later on we don't necessarily see god burning sacrifices by calling down fire from heaven to consume them this is kind of something kind of like a neat miracle that he provides just to kind of kick it off right saying this is something that he's sanctioning he's authorizing to do this but fire comes out from heaven and consumes the sacrifices then they offer the strange fire and it looks like there's a little more gas in the tank so he consumes them as well for their offering of this strange fire okay now look at chapter 10 and verse number four he said well that's not very nice you know it's the first day on the job why would he just destroy them right off the bat why is that well this speaks to the fact that god is a holy god who expects to be served on his terms not on anyone else's terms and one thing that we need to understand is god's people is that we need to serve god and worship god on his terms not on our own right we need to do things the way god wants us to do them and have god's operation and administration in mind when we serve the lord we can't just conjure up our own way of worshiping god right and in fact look at verse number four we see that god has no pity for nadev and by whom says that moses called michel and elzaphan the sons of uziel the uncle of aaron and said unto them come near carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp so what is he talking about there he's like go pick up the burnt corpses and take them out so they went near and carried them out carried them in their coats out of the camp as moses had said listen to this and moses said unto aaron and to eliezer and unto ithimar his sons uncover not your heads neither rend your clothes lest ye die what he's saying he goes don't you dare pity what happened to them because he says don't uncover your heads meaning don't show remorse don't be mournful about it and he says don't rent your clothes renting your clothes is something that people would do in the old testament when they're filled with sorrow and they have grief one of a physical action that people take is they will rent their garments essentially showing that they're renting their hearts right they're devastated and you know what we think from our earthly perspective well aaron those are sons you know it's just like wouldn't he be sanctioned and wouldn't god understand but you also have to understand that this is a very high position in the camp of the children of israel the high priest and the priesthood it's not something god's playing with okay and so in other words nadab and abihu and of course aaron should have thought twice before offering that strange fire and made sure that they were doing it the correct way so he tells them don't render garments don't uncover your heads because if you do you'll die now why would they die for mourning the death of nadab and abihu because at that point they're essentially you know agreeing with what nadab and abihu did in the eyes of god so god would see it as well by you renting your garments uncovering your head you're essentially saying that it was a bad thing what happened to them right it's a bad thing that god judged nadab and abihu it's a bad thing that the fire came down but it's not a bad thing because that's what god did and the judge of all the earth will do right and he's completely authorized to do such a thing and he's telling them don't do it lest he die he says lest wrath come upon all the people but let your brethren the whole house of israel be well the burning which the lord hath kindled so he says let the children of israel be well what took place not because they pity nadab and abihu but because they pity israel in general for disobeying god in this area of offering that strange fire he says in verse number seven and he shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation lest ye die for the anointing oil of the lord is upon you and they did according to the word of moses you see erin nadab and my who weren't just regular congregants of the children of israel they had a high position in israel they were the anointed of the lord to carry out the responsibilities of the tabernacle so you can't be flippant about your responsibility in the house of god you need to make sure that you're taking care of business and doing things the way god wants you to do them so he tells them don't pity them look at verse number eight we not only see that but we see that the importance of being sanctified before the lord it says in verse number eight and the lord speaking to erin saying do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest ye die it shall be a statue forever throughout your generations now some people have speculated that the strange fire was just that that maybe nadab and by who came in drunk into the tabernacle of the lord okay and the reason a lot of people think that is because of the fact that verse nine seems to speculate that the reason he's commanding them not to drink the strong drink it's just potentially made out of the by who might have done that and therefore god struck him down but i'm going to show you later on in the sermon that that's not the case however this is very much a valid point that the priest weren't to go into the house of god drunk right oh how far we've come because now in 2023 there's churches where the pastor has a bar in the church with tap and they drink alcohol they don't fear god enough to literally i mean they have tattoo parlors in their churches and a bar and they're serving draft and all these things i mean that's wicked my friends and they don't seem to fear god and take the commandments of the lord seriously what are they doing they're offering strange fire before the lord because they are sinning as they're in the house of god now we obviously understand that when we talk about the house of god we're talking about the congregation of the lord the the assembly of called out believers that makes up a church when i talk about the walls and you know the building we are the church this assembly here but nevertheless it's never right to come to the house of god drunk and when i say drunk i'm not only talking about alcohol i'm talking about under the influence of marijuana or some other mind-altering drug you know may you never be that type of person that you don't fear god and you can just come to church intoxicated and you shouldn't be drinking alcohol period but let's say you're just keeping it a secret or something and you're just trying to you know you take a couple drinks before you come to church just to kind of relax a little bit that's wicked you should fear that you would die coming into the house of god like that but again you have these calvinist pastors these reformed pastors who not only do they not care about coming to church drunk i mean they will literally put a bar in the church so that the rest of the congregation can participate and get intoxicated and it's no wonder you know their doctrine's all messed up okay because they're drunk as they're teaching and preaching he says in verse number 10 and that you may put a difference between the holy and unholy between unclean and clean and that you may teach the children of israel the statutes which the lord had spoken unto them by the hand of moses so he's basically saying you know you're to be sanctified and there needs to be a difference between the priesthood and everyone else now we obviously understand that in the new testament we are the priesthood all believers are we're part of that spiritual household and the commandment still stands right we're to put a difference and make a difference a distinction between unholy and holy okay and we're to be holy as the lord is holy now before i get into nadab and abi who let me just say this is that when you read a story like this you kind of wonder like so every time someone offers strange fire before the lord you know does god just like take matters into his own hands and just burns them to a crisp well not every instance i think throughout the old testament and even some instances in the new god will do that right off the bat just to kind of make an example out of that individual for coming generations okay and i believe that even after this instance if there was a situation where a priest in ignorance offered strange fire they would probably be put to death okay and you think of different instances in the bible for example you have onan who the bible says spilled it on the ground and god slew him okay you think of usa right who put his hand forth to touch the cart of the lord and god struck him dead right then and there how about the fact that the children of israel committed fornication and the bible says that thousands of them fell in the wilderness because of it that doesn't necessarily mean that if you commit fornication you'll fall over and die but do you really want to chance it though so it's kind of setting forth an example to say this is what happens to the people in the wilderness when they committed these particular sins don't play around with sin because that might be you you might be the proverb and byword you might be the one that god strikes dead you're like well you know i know you said that about drinking and coming to the house of god but maybe i'm the exception to the rule but do you really want to roll the dice on that though you really want to roll the dice on committing adultery committing fornication getting yourself involved in in just wicked sin and think to yourself maybe not me maybe i'm the exception to the rule well you know maybe nadab and abi who thought the same thing and yet they were burned to a crisp okay how about ananias and sapphire new testament were they essentially vowed that they were going to be bring a particular amount of money uh to the people of god and they lied about it and god basically struck them dead both of them dead i'm pretty sure thereafter every church member tithed and gave proper offerings because they're just like i might be next i mean think about this what if what if someone just didn't tithe or gave an offering and they just fall over dead in our church everyone would be on their p's and q's when it came to their tithes like make sure this goes out you know because it strikes fear in the hearts of people now that's not to say that it's going to happen every time someone doesn't someone lies about an offering or a vow that they that they give but obviously god is doing something there he wants to strike fear in the hearts of his people to make sure that they don't do what those people did understand and so this is that example with nadab and abi who and i'm sure that there's priests thereafter who are really meticulous about offering that fire they probably triple check the locks right it's just like are you sure you got this from the right place let's just double check you know this is where the uh ocd was was birthed probably you know i just want to make sure that this is proper fire because i don't want to i don't want to be struck dead and you know god wants to be meticulous about those things amen so let's talk about before we can understand why what the strange fire was with nadab and abi whom let's talk about the altar of incense okay because that's what's being talked about here in this particular story go to exodus chapter 30 we're going to learn tonight about the altar of incense we often talk about the arc of the covenant prior to engaging into the arc of the covenant there was a veil and then before that veil was the altar of incense okay and look what it says here in verse number one let's read a couple verses here it says thou shall make an altar to burn incense upon of shittim wood shalt thou make it a cubit shall be the length thereof and a cubit the breath thereof four squares shall it be and two cubits shall be the height thereof the horns thereof shall be of the same and thou shall overlay with pure gold the top thereof and the sides thereof round about and the horns thereof and now shall make unto it a crown of gold round about so this is obviously something that's very attractive beautiful and we don't know exactly what this altar looked like but based upon some of the descriptions here it's obviously a place where you place a basin where you can have incense you can burn incense there on and it's all plated with gold potentially four horns round about with a with a priesthood would put the blood of the sacrifices upon on the day of atonement once a year okay and we'll get into that in just a bit he says in verse number four and two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it by the two corners thereof upon the two sides of it shall thou make it and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it with all so obviously we know that the tabernacle was supposed to be mobile right they were supposed to be able to transport it when they were going from place to place it was movable and so they obviously had to move the altar of incense so they put rings with essentially golden poles that you can put through those rings and they could bear it upon okay so men can be on each side carrying that when it needed to be moved that's what it's referring to there the staves are the poles verse six says and now shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony before the mercy seat that is over the testimony where i will meet with thee now what does this symbolize what is this referring to look at verse seven and erin shall burn there on sweet incense every morning when he dressed at the lamps he shall burn incense upon it and when erin light at the lamps at even he shall burn incense upon it a perpetual incense before the lord throughout your generations so what is this talking about well when you study the subject of incense in the bible and in particular in the new testament you see that it's actually synonymous with the prayers of the saints okay go with me if you would to revelation chapter five hold your place there in the old testament go to revelation chapter five so the incense itself is symbol symbolically represents the prayers of the saints which makes a lot of sense when you think about the altar of incense because before you go into the holiest of all into the tabernacle through that veil it's like those prayers are brought before that you understand and we know that in the new testament because of jesus christ and the sacrifice that he made we're able to come boldly before the throne of grace to obtain mercy to in a time of need okay my voice i'm losing my voice here so excuse me if i crack a little bit so the the incense itself actually represents the prayers of the saints let me read you a couple verses here before we get into revelation five it says in psalm 141 verse 1 lord i cry unto thee make haste unto me give ear into my voice when i cry unto thee let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifices so obviously when the smoke of the incense is rising that essentially represents when we pray into the lord those prayers are ascending up to the throne of god to be answered before the lord okay look at revelation chapter five and verse number six skip down actually verse number seven it says and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne and when he had taken the book the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors which are the prayers of the saints so apparently in heaven there are these vials that god possesses and they're not filled with liquid they're not filled with perfume they're actually filled with the prayers of the saints now why is this important because sometimes as christians we think our prayers are in vain is god even listening is god going to answer my prayer is this even going anywhere is god hearing me out is he going to answer my prayers but according to the bible our prayers become collected in these vials so don't think that god's not listening and by the way just because god is silent or he answered he hasn't answered your prayers if yet doesn't mean they're not in that vial god's collecting them he's collecting the prayers of the saints they are in vials full of odors and in fact they're a sweet smelling savor unto the lord just as i'm sure the incense that burn smelled good right look at revelation chapter six which is pretty interesting this is obviously referring to the tribulation when i'm not going to go through the timeline or anything like that all right i know i have a tendency to do that but let me just start let me just say this no i'm just kidding revelation six is about the tribulation that's all i'm going to say all right all right let me just go over it no here is where the fifth seal we're going to read the part about the fifth seal says in verse number nine when he had opened the fifth seal i saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of god and for the testimony which they held and they cried with the loud voice saying how long will lord holy and true does not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth now you think to yourself what altar is that referring to well when you read hebrew chapter nine you see that a lot of the accoutrements and the testimony the altar of incense these were essentially a figure of the heavenly so everything that we saw in the tabernacle in the old testament were things that already existed in heaven they're actually made after the example that already exists in heaven you understand and so that altar of incense actually exists in heaven so here in the tribulation when people are dying they're being placed under the altar why because just as you burn the incense for that sent to rise up as an odor sweet smelling savor unto the lord in like manner these saints are under the altar and their prayers are also ascending onto the throne of god so that and you say well i don't see any prayers here what do you mean i mean verse 10 how long will lord holy and true does not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth here's the thing is that this is called an imprecatory prayer okay and so you know the prayers for for your physical needs you know financial needs health needs are very much valid prayers but guess what so are imprecatory prayers and according to the bible what we see here those are odors that god actually enjoys smelling okay so we see here why they're under the altar because that altar is like the altar of incense that's in heaven now go to chapter eight if you would chapter eight and look at verse number one of chapter eight now at this point the tribulation is over and the world is transitioning into what's known as the wrath of god okay where god's wrath is going to be poured out into this world it says in verse number one and when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour i saw the seven angels which stood before god and then they were given seven trumpets another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer just like the priesthood in the old testament and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before god out of the angel's hand and the angel took the censer filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and earthquake now we're not going to read the whole chapter here but basically what's happening is god is taking the prayers of the saints of revelation chapter six of the saints that were under the altar he's mingling with the fire and he's casting it down into earth and when you read chapter eight you see that a lot of stuff is burned up okay so what do we see in chapter eight we see the prayers of the saints are being answered because in chapter six they said how long oh lord well chapter eight he begins to judge those people who are upon the earth by using the prayers of the saints that are under the altar mingled with fire the point that i'm trying to get across here is the altar of incense in the old testament the incense in particular is figurative or symbolizes our prayers and you know the bible talks about much about prayer it discusses much about god's people praying and in fact when aaron was supposed to offer these the incense upon the altar he was supposed to do it first thing in the morning and in the evening the bible says in psalm five verse three my voice shall thou hear in the morning oh lord in the morning will i direct my prayer unto thee and will look up hey did you pray this morning did you offer up your incense on the altar praising god and thanking him for another day of life right he says in psalm 55 or 17 evening and morning and at noon will i pray and cry out loud and he shall hear my voice too many christians walk out the door without first giving thought to the things of god right wake up in the morning they just go about their day and they forget about the lord they're not praying they're not reading the bible the bible is telling us here that just as the altar of incense existed in the old testament and just as aaron offered that in the morning and in the evening that should be an example to us that when we wake up in the morning we offer our prayers into the lord prayers of thanksgiving prayers of gratitude prayers of necessities that we recognize god first thing in the morning okay you say how long do i have to pray for him i don't think that really matters i know to a lot of people that does matter and i think some sometimes people make too much of a big deal about that and it can become too much too rich ritualistic if you say well i have to pray for this amount of time and then it becomes robotic and it's not coming from the heart it's not sincere and genuine i think it's just important just to talk and just talk to the lord praying to him say lord thank you for my salvation i'm thankful that i have another day of life lord fill me with your spirit because i just woke up and i'm in the flesh i mean who's not in the flesh when they wake up i mean i'm always 100 in the flesh when i wake up especially if my kids have been keeping me up all night okay you know i wake up majorly in the flesh okay the old man is just there he's not crucified at that time okay so i have to put myself in the right state of mind when i wake up and just like you know crucify the flesh with the affections and lust and ask god to fill me with the spirit and help me to walk in the spirit that i fulfill not the lust of the flesh and so it's important that just as aaron fulfilled that responsibility in the altar of incense that we also offer up our prayers unto the lord in the morning throughout the day and in the evening okay go back to exodus if you would exodus chapter 13 it says in verse 8 when aaron lied at the lamps at even he shall burn incense upon it a perpetual incense before the lord throughout your generations so according to what the bible is saying here aaron was supposed to offer this incense every day perpetually throughout all generations now what is that a picture of pray without ceasing right it's just like well how long do i pray for you just keep praying does that mean you have to get on your knees and throughout the day and just pray no you could just pray while you're in the car pray while you're in the shower pray when you have a small problem pray when you have a big problem pray if you don't have any needs at all you just want to worship the lord and say lord i just want to let you know i love you i'm so thankful for everything that i have i i i i want to worship and honor you and give you admiration and and and do worship because of everything that you've done and who you are right speak unto the lord pray without ceasing the bible tells us that men aren't always to pray and not to faint you know it's not about necessarily a prayer time it's about having a prayer life and a prayer life is a life that is just characterized by praying at all times not trying to be hyper spiritual i'm not saying you're walking down the street and you're just throwing up your hands and talking you know just trying to let everyone know that you're spiritual you know you'd be like nehemiah where nehemiah just kind of prayed it within himself unto the lord you know he's just kind of speaking in his you know in his spirit unto the lord and just talking to god in his mind and his heart you know that's a that's a great way to pray when you run into an issue no matter how small it is pray when you're looking for a parking spot and you can't find it pray why are you guys laughing just that's a serious issue here you know sometimes you gotta pray lord help me favor me you know have someone else's car towed away so i can take that tomorrow i'm just kidding you know just pray for the small needs pray for the big needs hey if you have all your needs met pray for rain and the latter rain the bible says what's that referring to pray for the future for the needs that you will have one day and your faith fails not in that time of need and want and so we see here that aaron is offering this incense perpetually every single day without fail and this shows us how important it is to god that we pray unto him and one of the best ways to increase your faith is by praying and not just praying and worshiping god and thanking him but asking him for things as well okay and sometimes people get out of the habit i know myself this is definitely true in my life sometimes i get out of the habit of just asking god for things you know you're like why would you get out of the habit of asking god for things well sometimes in my flesh i can lack faith that god will provide in a specific way and prayer is an act of faith because you're going to god in faith saying i need this and i know you're the only one that could provide for it and i know that you will provide for it therefore give it to me please okay and coming to god perpetually having importunity in your prayer to go to god continuously even if you don't get your prayer answered right away you know we can't expect god to to behave like a drive-through or like a microwave or like uber eats or whatever other fast services there are you know we need to pray and then recognize everything's beautiful in his time okay and it might be a need a financial need a health need maybe it's just praying for a family member right we all have burdens because we have an unsafe family member or maybe a family member that's gone astray is backslidden maybe one that's not saved and you know the the more time that passes where they're not getting right with god or they're not getting saved we lose a little bit of faith that that will change but it's important that as god's people we offer that instance perpetually okay and in the morning you go say god work in this person's heart lord soften my mom's heart lord soften my dad's heart lord soften my daughter's heart lord soften my son's heart help them to get right with you and then in the evening offer that same instance again lord work in their hearts what is that importunity in prayer it's what aaron did when he came to offer that and you say yeah but i feel like it's it's just it's a lost cause okay but you know what the fire keep needs to keep burning though and so you need to keep praying and offering that incense in faith that god will provide for that specific need look at verse number nine he says ye shall offer no strange incense thereon now this is different than the strange fire but it's the same concept he says ye shall offer no strange incense thereon nor burnt sacrifice nor meat offering neither shall you pour drink offering thereon verse 10 and aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall you make atonement upon it throughout your generations it is most holy unto the lord so in order for this operation to work properly blood was supposed to be applied to the altar on the day of atonement well luckily in the new testament we don't need to keep offering sacrifices jesus christ was sacrificed once and for all which is why we're able to go before the throne of grace to obtain mercy to help in a time of need because his blood has already been shed on the mercy seat okay look at verse 34 it says and the lord said unto moses taken to these sweet spices stacked in onika and galbanum these sweet spices with pure frankincense of each shall there be a lightweight and now shall make it a perfume a confection after the art of the apothecary tempered together pure and holy now what is this referring to it's actually referring to the elements that go into the incense so it's not like they could just offer anything like well you know i like a little bit of this i like to add a little bit of that to my incense because i prefer this particular scent no god said there's a specific thing that you have to do in order for it to be holy unto the lord so this is what he means by not having any other incense don't offer strange incense okay verse 36 says and thou shall beat some of it very small and put of it before the testimony of the tabernacle of the congregation where i will meet with thee it shall be unto you most holy and as for the perfume which thou shall make ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof it shall be unto thee holy for the lord whosoever shall make like unto that to smell thereto shall even be cut off from his people so if you deviate from the particular instructions of what goes into the incense you're you're gonna die okay so what's what what is it that took place with nadab and bihu what is it the strange fire that they offered well we see when it came to the instructions of the fire they were supposed to actually take the fire from the burnt sacrifices so the fire that was used to burn the sacrifices that was the only fire that was sanctioned to be used to burn the incense so based upon that name Adam David Abihu i don't know maybe they struck a match they used something other than the fire that was used for the animal sacrifices that's what they used to burn the incense and that's why they died you say well what's what is the symbolic representation there well you know what if if we have to use the fire that was used to burn the animal sacrifices in order to get our prayers answered right symbolically speaking this means that you have to place your faith in the actual sacrifice of Jesus Christ not in some false Jesus you see the sacrifice of Jesus Christ according to the bible is the only sacrifice sanctioned to save mankind that means that Jesus of Mormons can't save you because that's strange fire that means that Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses can't save you look at that but his name is Jesus but it's not the same fire it has to be the fire that was used to burn the animal sacrifices you can't use some lighter you can't use some match you can't use a couple sticks that you use to make friction and create fire it has to come from the animal sacrifices because the the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the only thing that God accepts you understand and so you know Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the father but by me because there's a lot of people out there who portray Jesus Christ and they talk about Jesus Christ but when they actually talk about what he represents it's not the Jesus of the bible hey the Jesus of the catholic church can't save you the Jesus of the catholic church you say why because he's still on the cross according to them you go to any catholic church some of the most morbid things you'll see in a catholic church is the dead corpse of Jesus on the cross that's not Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ aside from the fact that they took him down from the cross resurrected okay and he is on the right hand of God making intercessions for the saints that's strange fire what the Catholics are doing okay it's strange fire what the Mormons are doing strange fire what the Jehovah's Witnesses are doing any type of Jesus that's portrayed even if they say it's Jesus if it's not the Jesus of the bible it's strange fire the bible says in Hebrews 4 14 seen that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our profession we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need not only that but let me say this is that if the incense represents our prayers and the fire represents the fire that was used for the animal sacrifices this also pictures the fact that we need to ask things in Jesus name right because in order for the incense to actually ascend we need to go through the fire that was used to burn Jesus Christ so to speak right which means that we need to come in the name of Jesus Christ now I don't think this is necessarily a big deal per se sometimes people will get up and they'll pray and they just say amen right nothing necessarily wrong with that but I think it's always great to just say in Jesus name because we're letting everyone know that we're coming in the authority of Jesus Christ okay and by the way when we say in Jesus name we got to use Jesus name not some fake Jesus what are you talking about you know how about Yahweh Yahashua or all of these modern renditions of the name of Jesus Christ that people are using that's not the Jesus of the bible you know you see this on instagram a lot follower of Yahweh follower of Yahashua follower of you know some foreign name that's not the name of Jesus Christ that's strange fire Yahweh is strange fire and in fact when I did that interview with that guy who believes in the book of Enoch not once did he ever use the name of Jesus he called the messiah but let me just say this there's many people who come claiming that they're messiah and you know I say oh you're talking about Jesus and he's like yeah it was like a burden to him I'm like oh you mean Jesus he's like yeah what's wrong with the name of Jesus and he even had a shirt as I was interviewing and said Yahweh folks Yahweh to a to a Mexican doesn't mean mean something completely different okay it's not the name of God it's not the name you're like well that's being sacrilegious no because it's not the name of God it's a false name and there's no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ and you know people always want to point out yeah but in the original Greek it doesn't say that you don't know that because you don't speak Greek you're just pairing with someone else said you don't read Greek you don't speak Greek you don't know how to decide you don't know the Greek alphabet I know yeah but the Greek alphabet doesn't have the letter j yeah but here's the thing obviously letters evolve and in Greek it's isus that's sounds pretty similar to Jesus or like in Spanish Jesus obviously the name is gonna change a bit based upon what language you're speaking but you know what Jesus Jesus does not sound like Yahweh that's something new that's come out and let me say this is that maybe there's well-meaning people out there that use the term Yahweh but let me say this the vast majority of people who are promoting that name are Judaizers who are trying to bring people back under the law because anyone who hates the actual name of Jesus Christ and wants to you know change it to something else often believes in a workspace salvation they are this Hebrew roots movement they are trying to get people to observe the Sabbath and bring people back under the law and blow the shofar and observe the feast of tabernacles why because of the fact that Jesus Christ was the culmination of those old testament laws and so if they continue to observe those old testament laws they're essentially saying that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not enough who are they nadab and abihu you know the who the Hebrew roots movement is it's nadab and abihu it's a nadab and abihu ministry offering strange fire from before the Lord because they don't accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ they want to create their own fire and literally people like right now are observing the feast of weeks in the United States of America I mean it's crazy you know Jesus Christ is the culmination of that my friends the bible talks about the meats drinks and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances that were imposed upon them until the time of reformation reformation meaning when God made everything better referring to the new testament the new covenant that was accomplished when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross so no you don't need to observe the Sabbath okay you don't need to observe the old testament laws we're not trying to bring people back under the law that's like the main thing that the apostles are trying to get people not to do in the new testament they were constantly fighting people the Pharisees and the Jews who are trying to bring people back under the law because these Pharisees and Sadducees were full of strange fire they didn't accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so if the fire represents the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and he doesn't want us to offer strange fire meaning go to a different God call upon a different name then the incense also represents the prayer and that is can be can be symbolized as making sure you call upon the right name right you have all the elements present in that incense to get saved you say like what well you know the bible says that if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised them from the dead thou shalt be saved oh no you don't have to pray that prayer you don't have to add that particular element all you have to do is just believe in your heart and you don't have to ask for the gift aren't there people out there like that that will literally criticize calling upon the name of the Lord even though the bible specifically commands us to in order to be saved for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation okay nay dabbing by who they're just like well no you don't have to call upon the name of the Lord we could offer whatever fire whatever incense it all works no you gotta have both use the elements that God told you to use if God says you have to believe in your heart and you have to confess with your mouth then do it why are you going to argue with what the bible says when it clearly this is not an obscure passage in roman chapter 10 folks in fact go to roman chapter 10 it's not but you know the people who fight against calling upon the name of the Lord is the same people who if they lived in the old testament would be offering strange incense and say we're missing one element of the four that we're supposed to put in but it's fine it still smells the same you can it still gets it done still gets the job done no because if you don't get saved if you don't ask for the gift then you know what you're gonna go to hell fire might come upon you the wrath of God abideth on you look at romans 10 verse verse 8 but what say it but what say it that the word is 90 even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in that heart that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for what the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made into salvation verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved what does this mean it means when someone gives you the gospel and you believe the testimony of the bible you believe the gospel the natural result of that is that you ask for the gift right because confession is made into salvation with the mouth confession is made into salvation that's what the bible says you say well that sounds a little redundant sounds pretty obvious i mean we've all kind of we believe that you know you'd be surprised we've had people come to this church have entire discussions around this passage right here and i'm just like does it say mouth they're like yes where's your mouth point to your mouth they're like right here so according to the bible you have to call upon the name of the lord with your mouth they're just like folks i didn't make the instructions on how to get saved god did and people always bring this up they're like yeah but what if a person's mute though what if a person can't talk well obviously folks if a person can't talk it doesn't mean that like new people go to hell it's such a stupid question it's referring to the fact that obviously they can ask in some form or fashion because people want to point to us and say that we're exaggerating on this point but folks there's literally people out there that will knock on the door give the entire gospel and say do you believe that all right you're already saved and not have them call upon the name of the lord even though the bible specifically commands us to how shall they call on him in whom they have not heard so that's referring to the fact that when they hear something they have to call with their mouth in order to be saved okay you know if someone's giving you a gift you have to actually receive that gift you have to ask for that gift tell them to give you that gift it's just common sense we're not a church that will offer strange incense my friends okay but even aside from that you know another example of strange incense can be vain repetition or maybe you're praying unto the god of the bible but you're offering strange incense in the sense that you're just giving vain repetition as the heathen do right like the catholics and we talked a little bit about that on thursday but that definitely merits you know addressing because you know today the orthodox church and the catholic church are catching a lot of momentum with young people that's like a big thing now social media it's all over the place where young people are literally buying into the catholic church and orthodox church because of their family values or whatever may be and it's just you know it's a knee-jerk reaction to society and how liberal and wicked it's become they've gone the opposite way but unfortunately now they're just offering strange fire they're offering strange incense because they're actually really saved okay and they may claim to believe in the bible pay lip service to the word of god but at the end of the day they're not doing things the way god wants them to do them they're not getting saved the way god wants them to get so they're not getting saved at all okay and obviously you know you have look folks when you have a hollywood star become an orthodox person and saying that it's like that's the true religion okay then you know you're in bad company if shila buff is orthodox that should be your indication like this is not a good religion then when the hollywood people are getting involved in religion and tell you telling you how to offer a strange not strange fire but yeah basically strange fire they're not going to call a strange fire they're telling you how to serve the lord and how to get saved run the opposite way screaming that's a good way to tell you like this is not the proper religion show me a fundamental baptist in hollywood it's not going to happen not going to happen okay there's a guy who said jesus you know you got like some guy what's that guy's name some of you worldly people you know what i'm talking about what's that actor's name that said jesus what chris pratt see i knew he had a worldly guy in here you know he said jesus and a prayer and everyone's just like oh yeah he's saved for sure it's like all you have to do is just say jesus he's probably talking about like some mexican dude and all of a sudden he's just like oh he's a christian he's saved and all these pastors just falling over themselves because this football player said jesus this person said jesus this person got you know the bible tattooed on them you know don't worry they're not pranking us we actually ordered this pizza okay i know everyone's thinking they're like what they're pranking us again but you know just because some hollywood look if a hollywood actor ever promotes a specific religion okay especially christian religion then automatically i should tell you that's not the proper religion okay and it's becoming really popular i mean even the orthodox church is becoming popular where videos are constantly being made and you know it's being promoted but at the end of the day you know that which is highly esteemed among men the bible says is an abomination in the eyes of god that's what the bible says okay and so it's strange fire it's strange incense it should not be meddled with the bible says in matthew chapter six in verse number five when thou prayest thou shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues in the corner of the streets that they may be seen of men verily saying to you they have their reward i mean one thing that constantly comes up on my social media is the guy who played jesus in that uh the chosen you guys know what i'm talking about it's like this advertisement that comes up what's what's the guy's name of course cody would know jonathan no not oh yeah jonathan roomy that's it that's it jonathan roomy who plays jesus in the chosen who's a catholic this advertisement comes up and he's like in a booth or something he's like hey i know you're really busy right now but can you pray with me you know and then he's like he starts saying the hell marries and our father which are in heaven and all this all these catholic prayers and you say well you know don't don't mock him you know he's just trying to do his thing he's selling it is what he's doing he's trying to make money you think he's doing that for free they paid him to do that it's so you can download his dumb app so they can make more money that's what they're doing it for jonathan roomy doesn't care about god you know he's using the the catholic platform to spread his message so he can get money that's what it's for the bible tells us but that will now praise enter into thy closet and when i will shut thy door pray to the father which is in secret and thy father which is in secret shall reward thee openly but when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do listen to this for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking you can say 50 hail marries is not going to get god's attention it's not going to work it's strange incense it's nasty incense it doesn't smell good god doesn't accept it i mean that's this is what jesus is saying by the way vain repetition where you're just repeating a mantra you're just repeating sentences you know you're repeating that ccm song over and over again and you think that god will hear your much liberal worship it's not going to happen i mean isn't that what ccm is just a repetition of the same shallow verse here i am to worship here i am to worship here i am to worship and it's just like oh man i just feel the spirit of god it's a spirit but it's not of god because when we compare it to scripture in light of scripture it's vain repetition and you shall not be heard for your much speaking be not ye therefore like unto them the bible says for your father knoweth what things you have need of before ye ask him what is this talking about the importance of having heartfelt prayer unto the lord because obviously when god was sanctioning these actions in the temple not in the temple excuse me in the tabernacle at the altar of incense he wanted them to obey his commandments of what specifically to do but obviously to come with the right heart as well right because we see examples in the old testament where the children of israel were fulfilling the responsibilities of the tabernacle but god told them like i'm not you stop offering these sacrifices because i'm not listening because our heart wasn't right okay they're being hypocrites so obviously it's important to do the right things the right way but also but also with the right heart okay and so when you pray it should be heartfelt it should be as though you're talking unto the lord not just reading off a list you're not even being mindful of what you're saying just a vain repetition it needs to be sincere and genuine okay with the right heart go to leviticus chapter 16 so what i believe it took place with nadab and abihu is that they essentially used fire that wasn't used for the animal sacrifices for the incense and it's just carelessness on their part they didn't esteem the commandments of the lord because it's not like they just the instructions were given last year right it's not like like a long time passed before they started fulfilling the job i mean they got the instructions right then and there and day one on the job they messed it up what does that show us it shows us that they don't really care they didn't care what god was saying about it they weren't esteeming the commandments of the lord okay look at leviticus 16 and verse 12 it says and he shall take a sensor full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the lord and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small and bring it within the veil and he shall put the incense there on excuse me incense upon the fire before the lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy sea that is upon the testimony that he died not and he shall take up the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times what is this showing us it's showing us that there's a lot of meticulous instructions given in the old testament regarding the tabernacle and sometimes you think to yourself like man that's like a lot of detail but it kind of shows us that god is interested in the detail and a lot of it is just to kind of show what's important to the lord and how when we obey the lord it's not obedience on our terms well you know i'll just kind of do it this way i'll just kind of worship the lord in this fashion you got it the way you got to do it the way god wants you to do it and that's not to say that god doesn't give us liberty and freedom in certain aspects of the ministry because the bible obviously talks about different operations and administrations and there's areas where god gives us liberty to choose on how to do a specific thing but there's certain things that there's there's no options it's just like this is the only option this is exactly how you're supposed to do it salvation only one way there's not like always lead to heaven well if this person believes you have to repent of your sin this person believe it's by works this person believes it's by faith it's all good same incense same fire doesn't work that way it could only be by faith in jesus christ alone well you know if this person believes in yahweh this person believes that we're still under the law and the jews they don't believe in jesus but they believe in god the father you know that's enough no it's not enough that's all strange fire you got to do it the way god told you to do it well you know if this person believes that jesus is the father and this person doesn't you know it's all good as long as as long as we're just kind of going in the same direction no that's not the same direction one's going up and one's going down it's strange fire it's strange strange incense we need to do it the way god told us to do it and when it comes to our prayers the same way my friends we go to god through jesus christ amen and so uh and the way we get saved is through jesus christ the way we get our prayers answered is through jesus christ and so it's important that we as god's people obviously we don't have to worry about salvation and if you're already saved you have to worry about it but you know what maybe you're in here tonight and maybe you've you have offered strange fire strange incense because you're not really saved you've depended on your works on your obedience to god's commands you think you're a good person you think it's by repenting of your sin you think it's by you know the things that you do plus jesus christ you know it's just like some of your fire mixed in with the fire of the sacrifice you know it's time to put that away it's time to only trust in the sacrifice of jesus christ only and to be saved offer the proper incense proper incense which is to call upon the name of the lord and his name is jesus so what happens if i don't well they better need to happen by whom we're burned to a crisp and that's exactly what's going to happen to every person who doesn't get saved it's called hell and so you know it's important that we recognize that but for us for for those of us who are saved let's make sure that we do things god's way and not try to look for a new way of worshiping god or operating the house of god or doing and trying to change things in the bible no we need to do things the way god has sanctioned for us to do them okay and not offer strange fire let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for this example lord of nadab and abihu and lord we as the priesthood need to make sure that we're doing things your way and that when we preach the gospel that we're not just handing out a track or putting a door hanger that we're doing it the way you told us to do it which is to open our mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel and that when we have church it's not house church it's meeting in the house of god with other believers with a sanctioned leader we need to make sure that we do things your way lord and i pray that if there's someone here tonight that is not saved and maybe has uh kind of delved into the strange fire out of that fire into the fire that is burning the sacrifices of the lord that lord they would place their faith solely upon you and that it would call upon you for salvation call upon the name of the lord jesus christ to be saved and i pray you bless us as we go on our way in jesus name we pray amen please turn your song books a song number 191 in my heart the ring to melody song number 191 song number 191 i have a song that jesus gave me it was said from heaven above there ever was a sweeter melody there's a melody of love in my heart there is a melody there is a melody with harmony we washed is a melody me with the courts rings great singing