Party In His Presence: Celebrate His Provision Series

Series: Stewardship,

Message: “Party in His Presence”

Topics: Thanks, Temple, Provision

Text: 1 Chronicles 28-29

Date: Nov. 20, 2011

Pastor: David McBeath

INTRO: The Atheist and the Bear

Have you heard the story about the Bear and the Atheist? An atheist was walking through the woods, admiring all that he believed a cosmic accident had created. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. Turning to look, he saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him. Needless to say, he ran away as fast as he could.

As he was running, he looked over his shoulder and saw the grizzly was closing in fast. Somehow he ran even faster, so scared that tears came to his eyes. He looked again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding, and he tried to run faster, but tripped and fell to the ground. He rolled over to pick himself and saw that the bear was right over him, and raising its right paw to strike him.

At that instant the atheist cried, "Oh my God!" Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others that I don’t exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light and said, "I would feel like a hypocrite to become a Christian after all these years, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice. The light went out. The river ran. The sounds of the forest resumed. Then the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed its head, and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful."

This is the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I want to talk about being truly thankful for how God has provided for our church and maybe think about how God has provided in our own lives. This is my second message in my series on stewardship. Last week we learned how we can find Worth in our Work by using our jobs to worship God. This week my we are going to look at 1 Chronicles chapters 28-29 and see how God provided for David’s mission to make God’s Presence known in Israel and how the People of Israel Partied to thank God for His Provision.

Today, we are going to have a similar sort of party to thank God for the way he has provided for our church. I invite all of you to stay for our Party in his Presence Thanksgiving Pot-Luck. Aren’t these “P” words good and cheesy? I don’t know why but for some reason I had an attraction to alliterating the letter “P” in my message this morning.

GOD PROVIDES THE PANORAMA: The Vision

Let me begin by asking you to take a look at this picture and asking how many of you have been to Letchworth State Park? We went last fall and loved it! You know why? Because there were the most amazing views! I tried to take pictures but the pictures just didn’t do the scenery justice. Even this picture that I found on the internet, as awesome as it is, doesn’t do the scenery justice. I wished I had a Panoramic View Camera, a camera that would let me capture much more of the grandeur of this place, because I want people to see how great this place is.

This brings me to my first point. God provided King David with a Panorama. That is our first “P” word. God gave David a Panoramic vision for building a Temple that would give the Israelites a sense of how great God is. Let me read: 1 Chronicles 28:2.

King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it.

TABRNACLE/TEMPLE = PRESENCE

Take a look at these two pictures. One is a reconstruction of the tabernacle and the other is a reconstruction of the Temple in Herod’s day. Both the tabernacle and the Temple represented God’s presence with his people the Israelites. Earlier in Chronicles we learn that David asked, “Why should God’s “presence” dwell in a tent, when I dwell in a palace?” So, God provided David with a Panoramic Vision of making known the greatness of God’s presence by building the temple.