A Royal Priesthood

I'm going to read a few passages of scripture if you don't mind standing while we read these I'm going to read from Hebrews chapter 7 from Revelation chapter 1 and from first Peter the second chapter so Hebrews chapter 7 Revelation chapter 1 and 1st Peter chapter 2. Hebrews 7 begins this way first verse for this Melchizedek king of Salem priest of the most high God who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings and blessed him to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all first talking about Melchizedek being by interpretation king of righteousness and after that also king of Salem which is king of peace without father without mother without dissent having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like unto the son of God he abides a priest continually then from Revelation chapter 1 read verses 5 and 6. and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his father and his father to him be glory and Dominion forever and ever amen and then First Peter chapter 2 very familiar many of you can quote this one verse 9 but you are a chosen generation you are a royal priesthood and holy nation A peculiar people that you should show forth the Praises of him that called you out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light and I want to lift three words from that verse as a title for this Bible study message whatever it turns into tonight and that is this a royal priesthood a royal priesthood amen why don't you just lift a hand and ask God to touch his touch your heart and to touch his word as it goes forth now Lord we're so thankful God for the word of God that is true that is forever settled amen and it is here for our admonition and for our instruction and righteousness to lift us up pray God that it will touch us tonight Lord Jesus that our hearts will be open to hear what you have to say we pray in Jesus name amen and you may be seated brother Aaron gave you the option today I think tonight mentioned that this was supposed to be a short service so if you're done you're can be dismissed right now but if you want to hear the word of God it may or may not be short we'll let God do what he wants to do so here's your opportunity right it's like to speak now or forever hold your peace here's your chance no one left I'm going to assume you want to hear the word of God amen somebody asked me if I had my conference message tonight I've never had a confident message so I can't tell you that I'm just going to preach what I have on my mind teach what I have in on God laid on my heart arguably one of the most mysterious and intriguing characters in the Bible is Melchizedek Melchizedek now a lot of different theories a lot of different ideas about who he was and what he was and I can remember he's always fascinated me this story in fact I've talked about him before but it's been probably 10 12 years I thought it was time to bring him up again I couldn't remember being about 11 12 years old and I asked my Sunday school teacher who happened to be the pastor's daughter at the church at and I said who is Melchizedek and she started laughing and she said you need to talk to my dad I don't know why she didn't want to approach that and try to explain it to me at 11 I needed to know but nevertheless thought about it many times but he appears on History stage just for a fleeting moment it seems like a minor character in the story of Abraham because he just mentioned almost as an aside and it's only mentioned once in the story because he only hear his name once and if his life were a play he would have only had 28 words to memorize appears on the stage and the Bible says this in Genesis 14 verses 18 through 20 it said in Melchizedek he was the king of Salem brought forth Bread and Wine and he was Priest of the most high God he blessed Abraham and said and here's the only words we have from Melchizedek Blessed Be Abram of the most high god possessor of the Heaven and Earth and blessed be the most high God which have delivered thine enemies into thy hand wow isn't that profound it's all he preached that's all we know of him that's all the Bible talks about in that period so whether he exits stage left or right whether it goes from there whatever happens to him we don't know he has not mentioned again in the writings of Moses and in his brief introduction what we do notice is that Melchizedek is described as the king of Salem and then he is also described as the priest of the most high God yet in this Brief Encounter here's what we glean from that God introduces a type that is going to languish in obscurity for some 2000 years but with one exception so God introduces it and then never really talks about it David kind of dusts off the memory of Melchizedek for a prophetic glimpse of the Messiah only to put it back on the shelf for another 1400 years in Psalm 110 verse 4 David says this the Lord hath sworn and will not repent talking about the Messiah thou art a priest Forever After the order of Melchizedek I have to wonder David did you really understand what you were singing there maybe he did maybe he understood something that the rest of us did not know or no one else knew but he did he sing with with a clear view of what lie ahead for Israel's promised Messiah did he did he understand perfectly who Jesus was going to be or or did he sing with or see through a glass Darkly and not really understand God inspired it God kind of said this and so I'm speaking prophetically but I don't know if he really knew we may never know until we get to heaven what David knew and further we might ask this question when did the Lord swear and not repent thou art a priest I don't see it in the Bible maybe it was he was doing it at that time through the words of David as a prophet speaking the word of God we don't know there's no previous verse of scripture describing that was it at creation when God began to declare the end from the beginning that he swore and said I won't repent but he is going to be priest after the order of milk because I don't know would seemed to be the most logical time yet scripture is silent and no one else touches this subject again in the inner Testament period between Malachi and Matthew that 400 years there was a flurry of religious activity a lot of things going on although no canonical books in our Bible yet there was a lot of people writing and there was a lot of intrigue of about Melchizedek and they begin to write books and they write things about him and but mostly wild speculation whom he was some said well he was Shem the son of of Noah some said no he was actually a theophany and they they speculate but the scripture doesn't say does not give us any of that so we get to the New Testament now the Messiah has come Jesus is there the one whom the prophets wrote and sang about as he walked the shores of Galilee and he taught and he performed Miracles He Walked on Water he still The Tempest he turned water into wine he forgave sins yet never once does he mention Melchizedek neither does Peter or Paul or James or John or Jude or any of the other apostles I I find it interesting that the the guy that finally brings it up and finally who grasped the mystery of who this person might be or what what the significance of Melchizedek was was written by the writer of Hebrews whom we don't know his name either speculation there well I think it's Paul I think it's Apollos I think it's someone else we don't know who it is we don't know who Melchizedek was we don't know who the writer of Hebrews was but he was willing to pick it up and finally give Melchizedek his due and with a clear understanding of the typology that was intrinsic to that Narrative of Melchizedek the writer of Hebrews begins to declare the significance of this King and priest now those of you that know me know that I love the book of Hebrews it's probably the most eloquently written book in the New Testament but it opens with this glowing revelation of God through Jesus Christ and Hebrews 1 3 said that Jesus speaking of Jesus he was the brightness of God's glory he was the express image of his person he upholds all things by the word of his power and when he him by himself purged our sin he sits down at the right hand of the Majesty on high it then proceeds very rapidly in the next verse two of the The Motif that permeates this book of Hebrews and that is this he said he was being made so much better and Hebrews is indeed the book of better things and it compares the Old Testament to the new showing the inadequacies of the Old Testament and contrasting them with the efficacy of the New Testament by design it is written as a defense of the New Testament Jesus is better than the angels He is better than Moses he was a better sacrifice than the Old Testament sacrifices he is better the New Testament is better than the law it has a better sanctuary and it has a better priesthood than the one that was instituted by Moses and it's that last fact when he finally the writer gets to that point is when he brings up this guy Melchizedek Jesus is described in Hebrews as our high priest in chapters 7 and verses 24-26 but this man this Jesus because he continues forever has an unchangeable priesthood wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them for such an high priest became us who is Holy harmless undefiled separate from Sinners and made higher than the heavens now here's the thing about this to the Hebrews or to the Jews if you will to whom this book was written this idea seemed totally preposterous Israel understood that Messiah was going to be king they understood that he had to come from the lineage of David from the Royal bloodline the prophecy at Old had declared the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes and into him shall the Gathering of the people be so they looked forward through David's line for the one king that was going to rule as Messiah over the Jews and as a descendant of David the Messiah would be heir to the throne as Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 9 6 For unto us a child is born a son is given the government shall be upon his shoulder his name wonderful counselor the Mighty God the Everlasting father the prince of peace and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and with Justice henceforth forever the Zeal of the Lord a host will perform the this so they look forward to this King that was going to sit on the throne of David this King that was going to be the Messiah this King that was going to throw off the Roman rule and it was going to Reign there in Jerusalem yeah Israel failed and what they missed in understanding that was how this same Messiah could also be priests this whole idea of a king who was a priest was an anathema to the Jews they did not believe it they could not take that Pagan religion from the time of nimrod in ancient Babylon had sought to merge the kingship with religion and they tried to bring them together this Babylonian system that was created way back then has been throughout history and throughout time it has always been the devil's Playbook throughout history he desires to be the ruler of this world and he also desires the worship that would be due the king of kings and only the Lord of lords we see this in ancient Rome when the Emperor Augustus declared himself he said I am pontifex Maximus I am the chief priest of the Roman religion bringing those two things together the Civil Rule and the Roman religion and so the Jews would look at that and they would never accept that because you can either be a king or you can be a priest you cannot be both that is why during the tribulation period when the Antichrist seeks to rule the world with the help of the false prophet he won't will want to be worshiped as God and declare himself God again bringing forth the ruler of the world with religion and to be worshiped and so to combat that plan the Jews kept a sharp distinction between the Royal Line and the priesthood the priesthood had been established by God the elite levitical priesthood through Moses while Israel was wandering in the desert listen to the words of numbers 18 1 verses 1 and 7. and the Lord said unto Aaron thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary that's your job thou and thy Sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood therefore thou and thy Sons with thee shall keep your priests office for everything of the Altar and within the veil and ye shall serve I have given your priests office unto you as a service gift and then he says this and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death it's Aaron it's his sons and it's nobody else can't be the king line it can't be anyone else it has to be a son of Aaron or the sons of Levi indeed the Bible gives us an illustration the story of Uzziah remember the king Uzziah that that Isaiah wrote about the Bible says this in second Chronicles chapter 26 it said but when he was strong when he was doing well when everything was good his heart was lifted up to his Destruction for he transgressed against the Lord now here he is king of Judah and he transgressed how did he do that he went into the Temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar and Azariah the priest went in after him and with four score priests so 80 other Priests of the Lord with him they were Valiant men and they withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him it doesn't pertain to you or Uzziah to burn incense it only belongs to the priests of the sons of Aaron that are consecrated go out of the sanctuary you've trespassed you shouldn't have been here neither shall it be for your honor from the Lord your God what you're doing is wrong Isaiah then Uriah Uzziah was Roth he had the sensor in his hand he thought I can do this I am the king he was Roth with the priest and while he was mad at them for what they were doing the Bible says leprosy even Rose in his forehead before the priest beside the altar they looked upon him he was leprous they thrust him out and it says in Uzziah was a leopard unto the day of his death why and it says he was cut off from the house of the Lord because they never merged the priesthood and the kingship two separate lines why do we say all this you see Jesus was neither a descendant of Aaron nor of the tribe of Levi Matthew and Luke in their genealogy it's there for a very expressed purpose they wrote it for the purpose of showing that he belonged to the line of David they both made a point of saying that he was a son of David and that fact would have excluded him from ever becoming a priest but the writer of Hebrews understood there was something greater going on here and so he declared what was declared Jesus he said he was called of God a high priest what after the order of Melchizedek not after the order of Aaron not like the sons of Levi this was something greater than that God he was saying called him a priest just like Melchizedek was the king and the priest it is here that the type God had established over 2 000 years earlier is fulfilled Jesus like Melchizedek was both King both royalty and yet a priest he was a royal priesthood now that sets the stage the story doesn't stop there in fact this is where it really begins you see Jesus came with a purpose right he came for a very specific reason he came to redeem Mankind from the curse of the law and from sin he came to establish a church where he said the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it he came to call out a people for his name he came to put his Spirit within them and to conform them to His Image in other words they would become like him John said this in John 1 12 and 13 but as many as received him to them gave ye power to become sons of God even to them which believe on his name which were born not of blood nor the will of Flesh nor the will of man but of God Peter spoke of that same experience in First Peter 1 23 being born again not of corruptable seed but of Incorruptible by the word of God that liveth and abideth forever the point is this we have been called to be like Jesus that is we are called to both royalty and to a priesthood the old chorus said this oh yes oh yes I'm a child of the king his Royal Blood now flows through my veins when we receive his spirit in our life when we go down in his name when he touches our life and he changes we become royalty in the eyes of God and because we have his blood applied to our lives we we become loyalty the verse that we read in Revelation said and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness the firstborn begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth so he's over all of it he said unto him that loved us and he washed us in from our sins in his own blood he's he has made us Kings and Priests and to God and his father to him be glory what a privilege not just what a privilege it is to be a descendant of a king but not just any King but the King of Kings and the Lord of lords no wonder Peter would say you are a chosen generation you who he's talking to the church you are a royal priesthood a royal priesthood so if we if we can grasp that and understand that there's some unique characteristics of one who is a king and a priest or royalty and priest first off royalty has to behave different than their subjects fact so much so that one couple years ago when England decided they didn't want to be royalty anymore get tired of this we have to do this and we have to do this but see by virtue of office you are unable to do some things that others can do and because we are royalty there are some things that we can do that unregenerate man unregenerate man can never do and there are some things they will do that we cannot do or should not do scripture contrasts both and we we sang about it already tonight a little bit but to the unregenerate state Jesus said without me you can do nothing without me you're not royalty without me in your life you don't have the right to do some things or the ability to do some things but Paul looked at a Believer and he said I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me why because now that the anointing and because his spirit is in my life now I'm royalty and there's things I can do that the world can't and Earthly King is physically no different than you and I yet his position opens him up to opportunities that others do not have if we could grasp that in the spiritual if we could understand that we are sinners that are Savior by Grace but yet because of our standing in Jesus Christ we are in a unique position to be able to receive things from God Peter said it this way and second Peter 1 4 whereby are given unto us given unto who his people the church exceeding great and precious promises that by these you can be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust who to those that are royalty to those that have been touched by his grace Hebrews describes our inheritance he said you are come to Mount Zion to the city of the Living God you're come to the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels the general assembly the Church of the firstborn and to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant and of the blood of the sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel why because you're royalty if you're a child of God don't get comfortable thinking well I'm just another sinner saved by grace and I'm just trying to make it through no you're a child of the king you can live Victorious you can live an overcoming life it's often been said that with great Freedom comes great responsibility right a king is not only in a unique position because of his power but he also is in a position that has greater responsibility and there are things that his office will prevent him from doing can I tell you as a child of God you can't live just any way you want to live you can't just do anything you want to do because we are to represent Jesus Christ to our generation don't hear it nearly as much as we did several years ago but that that cliche what would Jesus do still should be an underlying motto you may not think it in those terms or in those exact words but you have to understand wherever you go your royalty the world should see something different in your life in your actions what you do Paul said it this way to Ephesians see then that ye walked circumspectly that word means accurately exactly and diligently and I know England just lost their Queen but you know everything had to be precise you had to do it in a certain way you know you had had an error about her this is how we do things it has to be exact it has to be correct and what he is saying is a child of God that's how we need to act not that you're better but we need to walk accurately and exactly according to his word Timothy Paul tells Timothy this this way that thou may know us maybe this is a little easier for us to understand how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God your royalty behave yourself how I should act what I should do and finally a king's words are powerful I love this verse from Ecclesiastes 8 and 4 and he says this where the word of a king is there is power and then he asked this question and who can say to him what are you doing he's the king he can do what he wants to do he can speak what he wants to do and can I tell you this church if your royalty the words that you say are powerful not because you say them because you said them or because we thought them up because they are the words of our heavenly father he has given us the authority because we are royalty he said in the regime Redeemer shall come out of Zion and to all them turn from transgression and Jacob as for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit that is upon thee my and my my spirit is that is upon thee and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of thy mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seed seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever he said I'm giving you my word and putting it in your mouth and it will not depart can I tell you there's something powerful when royalty speaks words you know there's some things that we can say that really we don't have authority to say particularly if you're not royalty he's talking about this to somebody else recently my dad had a an account at the local auto parts store and he told me when I needed something he said just tell him put it on my account I could walk in there and say I need a new such and such distributor cap because it was an old car don't put those on there anymore right I needed and they'd say okay and he'd go get it he'd set it down on the counter and he'd say how you want to pay for it I'd say put it on Charles Spa's account all right pull out a piece of paper write it down I'd walk out now if you tried that I don't think it's going to work why I had Authority because of my father there are some things that you have authority remember the story in in Acts where the sons of skiva decided they were going to cast out some devils they looked at him and they said you know what in the name of the Lord whom Paul preaches the devil looked at them say I know Jesus and I know who Paul is who are you and beat him up he walked out naked why because they had no Authority but you are a child of God and as a child of God you may feel like well I have no Authority I have no power I can't get through this if you will speak the word great things are going to happen if you will learn to say you know what he said in his word I'm going to put my word in their mouth and it will be in their mouth and their seed's mouth and in their children's mouth and children forever for Generations if you will get a hold of that there's no telling what God will do in your life the Bible says this now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly and we love that and we stop there he's able to do exceed abundantly above all we ask or think yes he did say that but we stopped there and I don't know why we stopped there because he goes on to say it's according to the power that works in US and we want to just throw it all back to him you take care of it God and he said I gave you that power working it the power is in a Spirit-filled life declaring the word of God now that's not positive mental attitude that's not naming and claiming it's speaking the word into the situation I think sometimes we need to relearn how we pray rather than say oh God I need your help I got 16 things I need to take care of and Lord learn to start speaking the word into the situation you need healing declare it I'm the Lord that heals thee he is my strength do you need peace thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee quote that scripture call it to that thing that is troubling you do you need provision Jesus said take no thought saying what shall we what shall we drink where would we call it seek first the kingdom of God and he's going to add those things unto you speak it to your situation do you need salvation Hebrews 7 25 he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him speak it and let it happen everything we need we can find him him not only has he made his Kings he has also made us priests the priesthood too has some unique characteristics first off the peace priests were a separated people God separated them from the rest of Israel to do the work of the sanctuary and we need to understand biblical separation is always twofold it is of a necessity a separation from everything else well all the rest of Israel could raise their flocks and herds until the land and do what they wanted to do the priest employment was only to take care of the Tabernacle they were separate they were consecrated they were made ceremonially clean so they could perform the work God's people are separate from the world he has called us to be holy Philippians 2 15 says be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the middle of a crooked and perverse Nation among among whom ye shine as lights in the world because we are separate there are places we do not go there are things we don't watch there are things we don't listen to there are substances we avoid there is immorality that we stay away from why because we have been separated from those things of the world because we are priests unto him on the other hand we have been separated to God that's the other side of it the priest were set aside no I can't do what everybody else does but here's something I can do I can go offer the incense Uzziah you can't do it but I can they were set aside for a purpose and our text in Peter first Peter 2 9 you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation why that you should show forth the Praises of him that called you out of Darkness into his light God has not set us aside to make us weird and I know sometimes you have peculiar people you're kind of strange no he has called us to a higher purpose and that is to his purpose and to show forth his praise because we are special and we are separate unto him second a levitical priest did not own land the promised land was given to all the tribes of Israel except Levi you don't get any doesn't belong to you we'll let you live in everybody else's lands we'll give you some cities that you can dwell in but they don't belong to you they belong to the other tribes and we understand as the old song says as Royal priest we must understand this world is not my home I'm just passing through Hebrews 13 4 says here we have no continuing City but we're seeking one to come what I'm saying is as a priest we need to be looking for what is ahead laying up treasure in heaven not building it down here looking for that country that he has prepared for us third by nature of the office every priest's job is to be an intermediary you're not a priest just to be a priest to yourself but its purpose is to touch God for other people God has made each and every one of you priests unto him so that you can reach others with this gospel message Paul said it this way to the Corinthians in 5 19 and 20. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself that's what he did not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us and here's what he has done the word of reconciliation he took the responsibility to reconcile this world and he committed it to us now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech You by us our commission has always been to go your commission has always been to go and to be a part of what God has said why because we are a royal priesthood remember Melchizedek talked about him earlier not quite finished with him the writer of Hebrews makes a couple of points concerning him I think we want to look at first in verse 3 of chapter 7 he says he was without father without mother and without dissent now some people have looked at that at all different kinds of ways say well he just must have been God no father no mother without dissent simply put the reason he does not have a genealogy was because Melchizedek could not Trace his genealogy he couldn't look to numbers and say hmm where do I fit in her Exodus numbers look through numbers and and find where I'm at find where I fit in we love to read through some of those books don't we who began who begat who who beget who or sometimes written the other way and he was the son of who was this one and the son of that one and you read it and you read it and you try to stay awake because I got to get through my bread program because of that couldn't look to numbers and say Here's where I fit on here with the levitical priesthood that's why it was so important to the Jews just as it was with the royalty that's why numbers is there they had to be able to trace where do I come from in other words what is my pedigree what the writer of Hebrews was pointed out was that Melchizedek could not claim a pedigree his calling came directly from God the same was true with Jesus the Lord hath sworn and will not repent you are a priest after the order of Melchizedek his calling was came because God declared it and all who come to God do so do not do so because they deserve it you didn't deserve it I didn't deserve it without father without mother I can't look back and say you know what I deserve Heaven because this and because my grandma served God and my great grandma and because my parents did salvation does not their salvation does not guarantee ours maybe that's why Paul said you got to work out your own salvation this is an individual experience that we must have on the other hand this points out the truth that behind this call it's for whosoever will I tell you you don't need a Pentecostal background to enter a royal priesthood and we got proof of that all over here tonight amen people that have come in said I I had no background didn't know anything about this stuff and God put me in his church you may have come from the vile of the background no history of God in your family none of that matters when you come to God aren't you thankful for that stop looking at your past and let God change your future second it said he was without dissent having neither beginning of days nor end of life I don't think he lived forever like Enoch did the bible really doesn't talk about it being a man I would suspect that he died at some point yet the Bible is just content to let him disappear maybe they don't know when he was born and they don't know when he died and we don't know what happened and the typology is this for the child of God for the Royal priest there is no end in sight aren't you thankful this is an eternal thing that we got a hold of I mean the world looks at thinking if I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this and then I'm going to retire and I'm going to do this and and then it's all over now we've got to hope it doesn't matter when we go but there is a hope behold I show you a mystery we're not all going to sleep we're going to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump Trump's a sound that are going to be raised and we are going to live forever with him and finally it says the Melchizedek in Hebrews 7 3 he was made like unto didn't say he was the son of God he was made like unto the Son of God the ultimate goal of this royal priesthood that you are a part of is to be like Jesus we are being conformed to His Image we are becoming more and more like him First Corinthians 15 49 as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly second Corinthians 3 18 Paul says but we all with an open face we behold in the glass the glory of the Lord and are changed into that same image from glory to glory what he's saying is he's working on us and he's changing us and he's making us more and more like him and then John wrote it this way he said beloved we're now are we the sons of God not later you're you're a Son of God now he said but it does not yet appear in other words you cannot yet see what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we are going to be like him for we shall see him as he is Paul said it this way I'll close with this verse passage Romans 8 29-31 for whom he did for no he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son he called you for that purpose this was what he had in mind that's what that predestinent doesn't mean that he individually predestinated you and said I'm going to choose him and not him no he said he was putting this forward the sons of God the purpose is to predestinate them to become like Jesus that he might be the force first born among many Brethren moreover whom he did predestinate he's talking about the church then he also called and whom he called he justified and whom he justified them he also glorified see there's a progression there that's that going from glory to glory it's from receiving the Holy Ghost over here but I'm trying to become more and more I'm working toward being more like Jesus and that's when he said what shall we say then if God is for us who can be against us it's time we understood our position in him I'm royalty and you're a priesthood to reach out to those around us aren't you thankful the promises of his word so I don't care who Nick Melchizedek actually was I don't know where he lived Salem they assume was Jerusalem guy that was there as a king as a priest what is important is we're all called to that same office in that same position to represent the king and to be a priest of those around us let's stand I don't know if 8 24 is getting out early or not but that's okay if you're thankful for the promises of his word and what God has in store for his church why don't you just lift a hand and give him thanks so thankful Lord to know Hallelujah that we are royalty because we have your blood applied to our lives Lord Jesus because you have redeemed us that you have touched us with your power with your blood you have put us into the family of God part of your church Lord Jesus the thing that is going to last forever that nothing can stand against and while we're there you have made us priest unto you that we can reach this world around us and bring others to God others to you Hallelujah by the power of your word in Jesus name thank you Jesus thank you Jesus amen