The Temple Of God
By Paul Mooney

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13- Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written , The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Now a11 these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Can you fail? Are you going to fail because you don’t do something I suggest for you to do? No, that is not true. Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” I, as a pastor or minister, have the right to preach to you the Word of God. To challenge you, I can’t set a standard for you that would determine heaven or hell for you. I can’t do that only God can do that. Now, when the Bible says they fell; they were destroyed. Then it says here’s the reason why they failed. Then it says, this is written to you. They were telling you, that you will know why they failed, and to be an example to you. What is inferred here is if you are careless and commit these same faults, these things are likely to happen to you. You’ll fall not because the pastor said it or the person sitting next to you in church said it, but because God said it. So, how can a Christian survive? How can an individual survive without clearly understanding that God has certain conditions, which he has revealed to us and given to us certain warning. I don’t know how anyone is going to survive and ignore the Word of God. I fail to comprehend how anyone can remotely believe for a moment, that you will escape the things that are coming upon this earth if you ignore this book. Where else can you go? Peter asked the question, “Lord, where else can we go? To whom can we turn to?” I believe and I know you believe it’s true then every Christian has got to be grounded in this book.

The Pentecostal movement can not survive on emotionalism. Your life can not survive on emotionalism. You’ve got to have something more. You’ve got to have a commitment to the Word of God. I want you to see there are commitments that have to be made within your heart concerning the Word of God. The Bible says, your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost. It says the spirit of the Lord dwells in your temple. Your spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple. Your body belongs to God as well as your spirit. And certainly it would infer and teach us that we must give an account of not only for our thoughts and not only for our intents, but for the body.

I don’t know where it came from, but it is false doctrine to believe that you came merely to please God by being some kind of pure heart. I know the scripture says that the pure in heart shall see the Lord and only the pure at heart shall see. I understand that, but if being a pure heart means that you can just feel kind of good inside and never let that be interrupted into a life style that reflects the pureness of your heart; you’ve missed the mark somewhere.

Now, we have a teaching, which is ramped in the country today. It is not a new teaching but an old one. It’s called the flesh and the spirit teaching. The idea is that you are not responsible for what you do in the flesh. One group of people say their spirits are pure but their flesh is weak. They use Paul’s little teaching where he says, “My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak.” So they come to church and have a war against the flesh.

One group of people get so carried away with this belief, they put on combat boots and camouflage clothes and come to church and have war against the flesh.

We are going to be dealing with the extremes. The first question you ask is: Where is this going to take us in the extremes? Bible principles will always take you higher; never take you out. They will always bring you in; never take you down.

Carnal principles or ideas drift you away from God. These people teach that you get the Holy Ghost and you have the spirit you’re really not responsible for what takes place in the flesh. You have to go to church every week and get all your flesh cast out of you. They come together and confess their sins. It can be anything from adultery to fornication or whatever. They lay hands on one another and surround one another and rebuke the flesh.

Someone who wanted to cover up their sinfulness and their unrighteousness decided they were not responsible for what they did and how they lived because it was just the flesh. It isn’t me it’s just my flesh. I would do good but evil is present. They twist the scriptures.

If your going to pick out a verse out of the Bible, you make sure that you got it all balanced out before you make a dogma. Make sure that it runs safely through every scripture; everything you believe ought to be able to survive and kind of examination. That is what I like about being an Apostolic, just open the bible and say where do you want me to start preaching. If you believe right and believe this book; it will never be in conflict. God is not divided against himself. He is the God of the Old Testament and he is God of the New Testament but it all blends together.

They say they want to do good, but evil is present. So, they come in and cast out the evil. They say you are not responsible for your flesh as long as your spirit is right. But Paul said, “My body is a temple of the Holy Ghost.” There are instructions in the Bible on how the body should dress, speak, and how we react to the things of this world. We have a responsibility to look at it and say I’ve got to obey this book. I got to follow this book.

God said they fell because they did not do certain things. They lusted after evil things. They fell because of their lust. Don’t kid yourself into believing somewhere a person becomes a Pentecostal and that solves the problem of lust. It doesn’t and you better be prepared to put lust under the blood of Jesus Christ every time it comes into your life. Lust is not just a problem for young people. Lust is not just a problem with regard to sexual things. Sometimes lust involves non-sexual things such as power, money, and glory. They lusted evil things. Some people are desperate to have the approval of the world. This means more to them to have man’s approval than God’s approval.

Secondly, in 1 Corinthians 10:7 it says Neither be idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Idolatry is a problem. Are you saved? You say yes I’m saved. Well know this about salvation: You can not be saved if you have any other Gods ahead of God. God is a jealous God.

The moment something is more important to you than God, it’s idolatry. Is it idolatry when I put pleasure ahead of God? Can pleasure become idolatry? Yes, it is idolatry. When I put making money ahead of God, I am committing idolatry. Don’t have other gods.

Too many Christians today are ignoring their responsibility to come to church. They are ignoring their responsibility to be faithful to the house of God. They are ignoring their responsibility toward their finances and their giving. They are ignoring their responsibility to their pray life, their devotional life, and in their worship life. Somehow they have God on a budget. God will not be budgeted. He’s either number one or he doesn’t care to have any other position. You can’t make him number 2 and call him God. He ceases to be God.

God uses this example. I will be paraphrasing it” In Deuteronomy, God said, Isn’t it funny these heathen nations are less than the best. He said it is a foolish heathenistic concept to believe that I could be God and except something less than the best. For those who say they are worshipping me, I am God and you know I’m God. You are worshipping me with less than your best and you believe God will accept your worship. Well God says that you have committed idolatry. I’m not that kind of God. God would be a sorry God if he accepted something less than the best. God does not demean his position by accepting something that is less than the best. God says if you are giving me second best, to whom are you giving the first part too. God is a living God. Do you think that God doesn’t know when you give something that is second best?
Whatever the best part may be, God knows that that is your idol.

God said let me remind you that I am the only God besides me there are no other gods. He said look at creation and know who created it? God did and he didn’t have any help either.

God said, I am insulted when you bring me something that is second best because it lets me know that for whatever reason, you’ve held out the best for someone or something else. If God expected that he would be referring to whatever was first in your life. God will not step down out of his Godness. If God did defer to other gods, that would mean that God considers himself to less than the best.

If we are going to worship God at all, we must worship him as THE GOD!! God said he will always be God. He will never be anything less than God. He will never differ his role. He will never give his glory to anyone else. You don’t ever have to worry. He will never accept anything but your best.

The only way you can be a Christian and validate your experience in Christ is to know and understand that he has revealed himself to us through his word.

God can not become a person you negotiate with and still remain your God. If God negotiates with you, he would cease to be God and you would have no God because where else could we go.

God said, either come to me as God or don’t come at all because anything other than that is idolatry.