August 5, 2026 WEST

What does it mean to truly bring our best before God? In this session, we journey through Leviticus 22 and 1 Kings 8, uncovering a profound thread that runs through both passages: the reality that God alone is the one who sanctifies us. In Leviticus, we encounter the weight of the Old Covenant requirements, where every offering had to be without blemish, every approach to the holy things had to be made in purity, and every sacrifice had to cost something real. The phrase 'I am the Lord who sanctifies them' echoes again and again, reminding us that no amount of outward effort, religious performance, or self-improvement could ever make us holy on our own. Then in 1 Kings 8, we witness Solomon dedicating the temple in one of the most breathtaking moments in all of Scripture, offering prayers that still resonate with us today. What stands out is not just the grandeur of the moment, but where Solomon positions himself when he prays: before the altar, the place of sacrifice. This is a picture of the cross, and it challenges us to ask whether we have allowed familiarity to erode the weight and wonder of what was accomplished there. The cross is not a relic of our past faith; it is the living center of everything we bring before God. We are invited to return to it, to feel its weight again, and to let it reshape how we worship, how we pray, and how we live.