It's Time To Renovate The Church - Part 1

It’s Time To Renovate The Church - Part I

II Chronicles 29:1-5

I know when you look at the title on the projection screen you are scratching your head and saying “We just renovated the church 2 years ago!” You are correct, but there are some things that we missed. If we look real close I believe that we will see that:

1) There are some things that are broken that need to be repaired.

2) There are some things that are missing that need to be replaced

3) There are some things that don’t belong that need to be removed.

Before you start running through the numbers of our current budget in your head, let me ease your mind, there is no cost for this upcoming renovation… well, not financially speaking. What I am referring to is a spiritual renovation.

As we look at the condition of the Church in America today we see a broken shell of what once was. In many areas the Church is broken down, neglected and falling apart. While we all would agree that the Lord’s Church …“the body of Christ”, has many issues that need to be addressed, but we can’t fix what is happening to an assembly in California, or Montgomery, or Birmingham or even those across town or down the street. This church… Stockdale Baptist Church is the only one that we can do anything about. And as members of this local assembly it is our responsibility to ensure that we are where God would have us to be… doing what He would have us to do!

And if there are things that are broken, it is our duty to repair them.If there are things that are missing, it is our duty to replace them. If there are things that don’t belong, it is our duty to remove them. Therefore, I submit to you that “It Is Time To Renovate The Church!

Hezekiah found himself in a similar situation when he began his reign in Jerusalem. He succeeded his father Ahaz on the throne of the Kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 18:1; 2 Chr. 29:1), He is described as a great King. He followed the example of his great-grandfather Uzziah. We have a brief biography of him in our text for today, Look to - v1 ¶Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.2 and he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.

This was God’s man for this time in history and He had a plan for Him that would bring glory to His name. I stand before you today as God’s man for this moment in history at Stockdale Baptist Church. There have been some great men fill this pulpit in the past and there will be others in the future. But today God has given me a burden to see this church move forward for the glory of God. I would like for us to take those steps that are necessary to Renovate This Church.

In order for us to have success we must see a biblical example of how this “renovation” should take place. We find that example in the story of Hezekiah. To begin with we must see that:

I. We Must Repair What Is Broken - v3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.

This new King at 25 years old began to make changes at the outset of his reign. We read that “In the very first month of the first year of his reign”. He did not delay… there was no procrastination … HE DID WHAT WAS NEEDED. There is a lesson for us in this, there is work to do and the time to do it is now!

The things that were broken were as a result of Hezekiah’s father’s reign - II Chronicles 28: 24 Ahaz the king took the various articles from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s Temple so that no one could worship there, and he set up altars to pagan gods in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 He made pagan shrines in all the towns of Judah for offering sacrifices to other gods. In this way, he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

As a result of the king’s wicked actions the people of God suffered. When Hezekiah ascended to the throne, he reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. When you look at the Church today it doesn’t take long to see that some things are broken! Someone said “the world has become churchy while the church has become worldly.”