It's Time To Build - Part 4

"IT’S TIME TO BUILD.....PT 5"

INTRODUCTION

LET ME TELL YOU -- THE LAST 2 SUNDAYS BEGINNING ON THE PM SERVICE JUNE 25; HAVE BEEN SOME REALLY AWESOME CHURCH SERVICES (PEOPLE TESTIFYING TO GOD’S GREATNESS, SHARING THEIR SORROWS, OPENING AND BEING REAL), GOD’S SPIRIT HAS BEEN PRESENT AND MOVING IN THIS PLACE. AND DURING THE LAST 2 SUNDAYS I FELT LED TO LEAVE OUR SERIES ON BUILDING GOD’S HOUSE...

AND I AM GLAD THAT I DID (GOD USED THOSE MESSAGES) -- BUT NOW IT IS TIME TO GET BACK TO OUR MAIN TOPIC -- BUILDING GOD’S HOUSE... BECAUSE AS GREAT CHURCH HAS BEEN RECENTLY WE ARE NOT THERE YET... WE STILL HAVE FAR TO GO; WE ARE ONLY BEGINNING TO TOUCH THE HEM OF THE GARMENT OF THE CHURCH IN ALL HER GLORY...

AND SINCE WE’VE BEEN AWAY FROM THIS FOR A FEW WEEKS I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMIND YOU OF WHERE WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS POINT, BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO NEW TERRITORY. AS PETER THE GREAT FISHERMAN SAID IN 2 PETER 1:13, "I THINK IT IS RIGHT TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY..."

WE ARE STUDYING THE BOOK OF EZRA, A BOOK THAT RECORDS THE EVENTS OF GOD’S PEOPLE BUILDING HIS HOUSE AFTER THEY RETURNED FROM A 70 YEAR EXILE. AND WE ARE PULLING FROM THIS GREAT BOOK PRINCIPLES THAT THEY APPLIED TO SUCCESSFULLY BUILD GOD’S HOUSE THEN -- SO WE CAN SUCCESSFULLY BUILD GOD’S HOUSE AT ETCC, NEARLY 3,000 YEARS LATER. THE PEOPLE WHO WE ARE READING ABOUT IN EZRA -- THE 50,000 MEN AND WOMEN WHO MADE THE TRIP BACK HOME TO JERUSALEM WERE MOVED BY GOD;

THEY MOVED BY THOUGHTS OF THE TEMPLE; THEY WERE MOVED BY THE POWER AND PROMISES OF GOD; THEY WERE MOVED BY GOD’S GRACE AND BY THEIR 2ND CHANCE AS A PEOPLE... DESPITE ALL THEY DID, GOD STILL LOVED THEM (HE HATED THEIR ACTIONS/PUNISHED THEIR SIN -- BUT EVEN WHILE SUFFERING IN THAT PUNISHMENT THEY ALWAYS COULD SEE HIS HAND OF LOVE REACHING OUT TO THEM...) AND NOW, HE HAS CALLED THEM/ HE HAS ALLOWED THEM TO BUILD HIS HOUSE.... THEREFORE, IN 536BC THOSE WHOSE HEARTS GOD HAD MOVED LEFT AND RETURNED TO JERUSALEM PREPARED TO BUILD THE HOUSE OF GOD....

BUT JUST LIKE TODAY NOT EVERYONE WENT -- BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE WAS MOVED TO BUILD GOD’S HOUSE.... NOTICED IT DOES NOT SAY "AND ALL THE PEOPLE PREPARED TO GO..." NO, IT SAYS THAT ONLY THOSE WHOSE HEARTS WERE MOVED BY GOD WENT...

YOU SEE THE REST WERE UNMOVED BY GOD -- BECAUSE THEY HAD NOT GIVEN GOD THEIR HEARTS, AND THEY WERE COMFORTABLE RIGHT WHERE THEY WERE.... NOW WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE STILL IN CAPTIVITY -- THAT CAPTIVITY CHANGED DRAMATICALLY AFTER THE FALL OF BABYLON AT THE AND OF THE MEEDS AND PERSIANS... THE JEWS HAD HONES, LIVES AND JOBS IN THE LAND...AND SOME DID NOT WANT TO RISK THESE COMFORT TO GO BACK TO A DESTROYED CITY TO LIVE... WHERE WOULD THEY LIVE -- WHERE WOULD THEY WORK.... SO WHEN THE TIME AND OPPORTUNITY CAME FOR THE MOVE TO BE MADE FOR THE TRIP TO BE TAKEN THEY STAYED...

AND JUST LIKE TODAY I AM SURE THAT BEFORE THAT MOMENT OF TRUTH CAME; SOME WHO WOULD LATER STAY IN PERSIA TALKED A REAL GOOD SPIRITUAL TALK... THEY GAVE THE IMPRESSION OF BEING A PEOPLE WHO WERE MOVED BY GOD...

AND SOME NO DOUBT LOOKED AT AND MARVELED AT THE FAITH THESE "TALKERS" SAID THEY HAD.... YES, THEY ENJOYED THEIR REPUTATION OF BEING VERY STRONG IN THE FAITH.... BUT WHEN THE MOMENT OF TRUTH CAME -- WHEN THE TIME CAME FOR THEM TO PUT FEET/EFFORT INTO THAT TALK... TO LEAVE THE COMFORTABLE AND FAMILIAR AND VENTURE OUT FOR GOD -- WELL MANY JUST STAYED IN PERSIA -- YOU SEE GOD NEVER REALLY HAD MOVED THEIR HEARTS -- THEY HAD JUST MERELY BEEN MOVING THEIR LIPS...

BUT THOSE WHOSE HEART GOD HAD MOVED -- NEARLY 50,000 STRONG -- DID LEFT THE FAMILIAR TO VENTURE OUT INTO THE UNKNOWN FOR GOD... TO JOURNEY TO A LAND THAT MOST HAD ONLY HEARD ABOUT BUT HAD NEVER SEEN WITH THEIR OWN EYES..

THAT’S WHAT GOD IS CALLING US (HIS PEOPLE) TO DO TODAY; MOST OF US HAVE NEVER SEEN GOD’S CHURCH IN ALL HER GLORY...(NOW WE HAVE SEEM GOOD GLIMPSES OCCASIONALLY) BUT WE HAVE NEVER TRULY EXPERIENCED THE CHURCH AS GOD HAS CALLED HER TO BE, BUT WE HAVE READ ABOUT IT.... WE SEE A NEWBORN CHURCH IN THE BOOK OF ACTS; A CHURCH WHO HAD EVERYTHING IN COMMON; NO ONE WAS IN NEED BECAUSE EVERYONE SOLD WHAT THEY HAD WHEN A BROTHER WAS IN NEED... WE SEE A CHURCH UNDER HEAVY PERSECUTION BOLDLY PROCLAIMING THE MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST; REJOICING WHEN DIFFICULTIES CAME CONSIDERING IT AN HONOR THAT THEY WERE COUNTED AS WORTHY TO SUFFER FOR THE NAME; AND WE SEE A CHURCH WHERE GOD WAS ADDING TO THEIR NUMBER DAILY THOSE WHO WERE BEING SAVED.... A CHURCH WHOSE ENEMIES HAD TO EVEN ADMIT WAS TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN...