In Deuteronomy Chapter 12, the most frequently occurring phrase is the place where God chooses to put His Name. Have you noticed that from Genesis to Revelation, there is a recurring theme: those who are after God's heart, those whom God has chosen, from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Moses whom we read about today, they highly value the place where God chooses to put His Name, they highly value the presence of God. Abraham, wherever he went, built altars and offered sacrifices. Why? Because building altars and offering sacrifices was evidence of being in God's presence, it was proof of His presence.

Building the Tabernacle Brings God's Presence

I once preached a sermon called The Glory in the Wilderness. God revealed to Moses to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The wilderness was surrounded by bare mountains, a barren land. But the Tabernacle, from the outside, looked extremely glorious. The joints of the Tabernacle, as well as the rods and poles, were all overlaid with gold. In the wilderness, where there were no tools, they had to melt down earrings and rings into gold liquid and then overlay the gold onto those items. Can you imagine how these people managed to do it? Without God's presence, they absolutely could not have done it. This is what is called the Glory in the Wilderness. God was clearly with them, and relying on God's presence, they did an astonishing work, building the Tabernacle was a major undertaking.

After reading Exodus, I was amazed. What tools did they use for carving? They didn't bring any tools with them, they were all made on the spot. And without using any adhesives, they carved flowers, branches, and leaves from a single piece of wood. The joinery was so exquisite that even today's craftsmanship might not be able to match it. In the wilderness, people had problems even getting water to drink, but when they needed to melt down gold jewelry into gold liquid, water was available. How did they do it? Because they were building the place where God chose to put His Name, and in the process, God was with them, and they had God's wisdom and power. If it were not for God's presence, if they were not building a place where God chose to put His Name, such a thing could not have been done.

From Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Moses today, including David and Solomon, these people all attached great importance to one thing: they highly valued God's presence. Today, if we establish a church without God's presence, we can do nothing. Our creativity, much of the work we do, is completed under God's revelation. If we lack God's revelation when we do these things, we can hardly move an inch. That is to say, God's presence is key to establishing a church, and God's presence is also key to whether God's chosen people can be blessed in a place where God's presence is.

There is a world of difference between churches, so I often encourage brothers and sisters who are church-hopping to start adjusting their mindset. In the process of church-hopping, you may be looking for the place where God chooses to put His Name, which is good. Or, you may be church-hopping for years without knowing what you are doing, then you are quite foolish. In the process of church-hopping, you may encounter the place where God chooses to put His Name, then you may be blessed. You may also encounter a place that is not where God chooses to put His Name, then the blessings you have just received may be taken away. After the whole cycle, you yourself may not be clear about whether you are blessed or not, it is very confusing. So I often encourage brothers and sisters to find the place where God chooses to put His Name when looking for a church.

Whether a church is the place where God chooses to put His Name, whether it is a place where God is present, can be verified and is visible. Teacher has a sermon called Clearly There is God's Presence. In a place where God is present, you can clearly see God's presence, there is no need to guess. When you see a group of rebellious people worshiping a golden calf in the deserted wilderness, and they have built a tabernacle, the pillars of which are covered with fine gold, and the lampstands inside, the altar for burnt offerings, are all gold. The ephod, the garments worn by the priests, are colorful with silver threads, the equipment is complete and orderly.

There are not even wooden houses around, but in that place, there is such a beautiful tabernacle. The tabernacle can be folded up, carried away, and set up again in a new place in no time. When the sun shines on it, it glitters with gold. Do I need to tell you that God's glory is in that place? No, when you see such a tabernacle in the wilderness, you will naturally exclaim: This is a place where God is present, this is the place where God chooses to put His Name, this place is so glorious, this place is so wonderful. You will recognize that this is a wealthy place, a place where I can eat my fill even if I am hungry, a place where I can become rich if I am poor, a place where I can surely be healed if I have a disease, because in such a desolate place, there is actually a shining tabernacle here. Today, the place where God chooses to put His Name is clearly visible, and a church full of God's glory and God's presence is also clearly visible. There are conditions for building such a church that clearly has God's presence.

A Willing Heart, Not a Crooked Heart

You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—each one doing whatever is right in his own eyes— for as yet you have not come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 12:8-9)

This passage is about how this group of Israelites was not yet prepared to go to the place where God would choose to put His Name. What was not prepared? It was their mindset. Their mindset was not yet prepared to go to the place where God would choose to put His Name, they were not yet prepared to go to that place to inherit the land, they were not prepared for a willing heart. Do you know why God told His people through Moses:

You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. (Deuteronomy 12:4)

God said, You cannot serve Me in the way they serve their gods. What is different? It is the mindset.

You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their children in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:31)

The mindset of these people in worshiping idols had reached the point of madness. They felt that what idols could give them was more important than their children, and they wanted to get what they wanted at all costs, even sacrificing their children. What they wanted might be money, might be a throne, might be something. What is the mindset of worshiping idols? The mindset of worshiping idols is that if I give you something, you must give me something in return. If what you give me cannot be exchanged for equal value, that is, if what you give me cannot meet my expectations, I will offer more. That is why these people would eventually sacrifice their own children, because their mindset of worshiping idols was already very serious, their mindset of equal exchange in worshiping idols was already very serious.

What kind of equal exchange, what kind of ambition, was worth sacrificing their own children for? It was because they wanted to gain too much. Maybe they wanted to rule the world. God does not allow them to worship God with the mindset of worshiping idols, which is essentially a mindset of equal exchange. A group of people with such a mindset cannot establish the place where God chooses to put His Name. At this time, God said to them, You people are now doing what is right in your own eyes, your current mindset cannot yet go to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. But you must not do this in the future. If one day I bring you in and you still have this kind of mindset, you are finished, you are doomed. And the facts have also proved that, going forward to the era of David, Solomon, and the Books of Kings, whenever people could not serve the Lord God willingly, God really confirmed this statement.

You did what was right in your own eyes back then, and I told you that you must not do this in the future. But when they inherited the land, they still did this, and God severely disciplined them. They worshiped Jehovah with the mindset of worshiping idols, and in the era of the Books of Kings, God never showed them any mercy. If that was the case at that time, then what about the brothers and sisters today? I tell you, why is it that the church we are in today has become the place where God chooses to put His Name? It is because there are a few people, including the pastor, including our core leaders, who willingly serve this God. We never expect to give God something and then have God give us something in return. We serve Him willingly, so this place has become the place where God chooses to put His Name, so those who are in need come to this place to pray, and it will be fulfilled!

I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and keep all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ (1 Kings 9:3-5)

In the era of Solomon, God instructed King Solomon to build a consecrated temple, My eyes and my heart will always be there, that is the place where God chose to put His Name. Later, when Solomon was old, his heart turned away from God, and God's eyes and God's heart moved away from that temple, and eventually that temple became desolate. The desolation of the temple is not important, the desolation of people's hearts is the key. Today, I hope that the desolate hearts of the brothers and sisters can be rekindled, the desolate hearts can be rekindled, and the crooked hearts can be straightened. We must willingly serve this God, so that this place can become the place where God chooses to put His Name, and God's eyes and heart will always be here. When you come to this place to pray, God will grant your requests, and when you give offerings, God can bless you from these offerings.

Why do we often say one thing when tithing: If you do not understand the meaning of tithing, please do not tithe. What is the meaning of tithing? It is a willing heart. Without a willing heart to give, the offering in this place is a desolate offering, it is not the place where God puts His Name. Where does your money go when you give it? The money given has no meaning.

I just heard so many testimonies in the pastoral district, and I think the brothers and sisters in each pastoral district have a large number of testimonies. The reason why such things happen among us is not because of anything else, but because there are indeed a few people among us who have given all that we have to our God. There is only one goal in their lives, which is to establish the place where God chooses to put His Name. When these people begin to have a willing heart to serve, God's eyes and God's heart are often in that place. How could such things not happen in that place? So no matter who you are, if there is a time machine that takes you back to the scene of the glorious tabernacle built by the Israelites in the wilderness, you will be surprised when you stand inside: Wow, that's amazing, how could these people have done such a work in the wilderness! This is a place where God's glory is, and we need to continue to push our church to that level.

God Blesses People Through the Dwelling Place Established for His Name

Without a dwelling place established for God's name, God cannot bless people, and prayers are not heard by God because the spiritual atmosphere is not right. This is why in Deuteronomy chapter 12, God very carefully told this group of people, starting with:

You must by all means destroy all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess worship their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names out of that place (Deuteronomy 12:2-3).

Why is this so? Because that place has been tainted with some deviant things, and the spiritual condition is not right. God cannot establish that place as a dwelling for His name. Why do we in the church today strive to help brothers and sisters remove the idolatrous mindset? The idolatrous mindset is the mindset of poverty. Why does the Bible repeatedly talk about these things? Because that idolatrous mindset will cause one to leave God. When this place is no longer the dwelling place established for God's name, is prayer still useful? Is our offering still useful? Is our service still useful? All of it is useless, all reduced to nothing, without any value. Why did God want the people of those places to remove the idols and then do this work? It was to be able to bless these Israelites through the dwelling place established for His name, so that they could be blessed.

God Restores Human Freedom Through the Dwelling Place Established for His Name

When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, “I will eat meat,” because you desire to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. If the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or flock that the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns as much as your heart desires. Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it (Deuteronomy 12:21-22).

We must know that we have no freedom outside. To obtain true freedom, you must return to the dwelling place established for God's name, which is the church filled with God's glory. Today, in this generation, the church will become more and more holy, and this generation will become more and more dark. The whole situation is similar to that of Israel in the wilderness, where there will be a glorious tabernacle in a desolate area.

Today, in a desolate generation, there is still a glorious dwelling place established for God's name. In such a place, God will bless His people, and God will restore their freedom. Brothers and sisters, do not be mistaken. The greatest difference between the God we worship today and the idols that people worship is that they need to use their sons to exchange for what they want, but we do not. God leads us to enter the dwelling place established for His name with a willing heart, to bless us and restore our freedom.

Including God not allowing us to eat blood, because our God values life very much. Why does God hate those who worship idols so much? Because they despise life. There is nothing more precious in this world than life, because God created man in His own image. God will feel very disgusted with such a situation. They exchanged the most precious things for the most insignificant things. This is the foolishness of idolaters. Therefore, God destroyed the idol-worshiping Israelites. It is useless to leave them in this world!

One can imagine that when a person has a willing heart to serve, this person will become a part of the dwelling place established for God's name. When our own mindset is right, we no longer need to find a dwelling place established for God's name to sacrifice. We can be free. After the Lord enlarges the territory as He has promised, I can eat as much meat as my heart desires. Where does true freedom come from? True freedom comes from willingly serving this God.

When that group of Israelites willingly served God, no longer acting according to what they thought was right, they had to act according to the Lord's will, and they willingly did it and acted on it. In this way, they are no longer people who need to be corrected by God. Do you know why when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they did not eat meat whenever they wanted to eat meat, or drink water whenever they wanted to drink water, and they still complained when there was none? Why at this time did God say, If you want to eat meat, I will give you meat to eat; if you want to drink water, you can drink water? If they think that the place established for God's name is far away, they can offer sacrifices in this place, because the people of Israel have been trained, because they no longer complain, no longer trade with God with an idolatrous mindset, they began to enter the dwelling place established for God's name, in this place they are completely free, no longer controlled by their own desires, they are willing to willingly live out a free life.

Do you want to willingly acquire the will to be free today? It must start from willingly serving God. We must be a completely free person, eat whatever we want to eat, drink whatever we want to drink, and worship wherever we worship. So, do long-distance gatherings have a problem today? No problem at all. If you and I are the people of the dwelling place established for God's name, we have torn down all selfish desires and all idolatrous altars, we are that glorious part!