1. Are you a House of Prayer or a Den of Thieves
Mark 11:15-18

2. Mark 11:15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves,16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

4. Deut 4:7  What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?
:29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul

5. 1 Kings 8 27 “But will God really dwell on earth
1 Kings 8   27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

7. Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.

9.  And as he taught them, he said,
“Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?
  [Isaiah 56:7] But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ [Jer 7:11]

10. about them, not you Isaiah 56:1-7 This is what the Lord says:
“Maintain justice  and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand     and my righteousness will soon be revealed. 2 Blessed is the one who does this—     the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,     and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”
3 Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say,     “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.” And let no eunuch complain,     “I am only a dry tree.”
about them, not you

11. about them, not you Isaiah 56:1-7 4 For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,     who choose what pleases me     and hold fast to my covenant— 5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls     a memorial and a name     better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name     that will endure forever.
about them, not you

12. about them, not you Isaiah 56:1-7
6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord     to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,     and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it     and who hold fast to my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain     and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices     will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called     a house of prayer for all nations.”
about them, not you

13.  And as he taught them, he said,
“Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?
  [Isaiah 56:7] But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ [Jer 7:11]
the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 
Acts 8:36  

14. about you, not them Jeremiah 7:1-11
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:
“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”
about you, not them

15. about you, not them Jeremiah 7:1-11
5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
about you, not them

16. about you, not them Jeremiah 7:1-11
9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.
about you, not them

17. House of Prayer – about them, not you
Den of Robbers - about you, not them
Matt 23:13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

18. Tiananmen Square