Preparing to Build, Part 4
Consulting the Blueprints before Buying the Nails!
Today we continue our series, PREPARING TO BUILD…SEEING THE VISION…LIVING THE DREAM! This series is focusing on what we need to do to prepare our lives and to prepare our church for what God has in store.
We are so excited to see what can happen in the next FIVE years with the vision that God has given to us. We know where we are headed, we just need to prepare for how to get there. That is what this series is about. PREPARING TO BUILD.
Three weeks ago, we cast the vision. Talking about what we are trusting God for in the next five years. We talked about building this church and building our lives based on God’s word…with passion to accomplish His work.
Two weeks ago, we chose the builder. We chose to build on the Firm Foundation, the solid rock, Jesus Christ. Last week, we talked about digging the foundation. We made the statement…IN ORDER TO BUILD UP, YOU MUST FIRST DIG DOWN!
We read Colossians 2:6-7 - As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Rooted…then built up in Him. That foundation is so important as we transfer the weight of our structure, the weight of our lives, to something of far greater mass…Jesus Christ.
We must base our lives and our church on Him. He is our foundation. He is what will sustain us when the winds come, when the rains come, when the floods come. He will protect us from that which can destroy us.
We passed out this card last week that emphasizes why we must dig down. It focuses on the assurance of our salvation, the assurance of our submission, and the assurance of our sanctification.
I said last week, “Satan knows he can never move the hand of God, but he can move the hearts of man, unless we are grounded in Christ.” That is the essence of last week’s sermon. The foundation must be anchored in Christ.
1 Cor. 15:58 says: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
We must be steadfast, immovable. In other words, anchored in God, while we work for Him. While we accomplish His tasks, His goals, His vision for our church and our lives.
Today, we move on in our construction process. You see now that we’ve moved beyond the foundation stage and we are now entering the actual construction phase.
We have lots of tools and building supplies that are here on site ready to be used to build this house. We have just about everything here we need to get rolling. And, you know that we are excited about building. When you start a new construction project, the air is just filled with anticipation about making it happen.
Here, it’s no different. We are so ready to begin building, to begin seeing what it is that God is going to do with us. We are so ready to begin this process, we can hardly wait.
But, there is always an important step that must occur before you begin building. Before you start driving nails, before you start hanging sheetrock, before you start running wires. Long before all of that, you must CONSULT THE BLUEPRINTS.
You see, in the beginning of every building project, you always draw the plans. You lay out exactly what it is you want to accomplish. You hire an architect to design what will become the final product. This step is so important because if you don’t plan it out ahead of time, you could make tragic mistakes in the middle of the construction.
These blue prints are also so important because this is what will be the roadmap for the builders as they work every day on the project. Every day they will take a look at the blueprints to ensure that they are doing things correctly, that everything is being done according to plan.
This is a vital step in the success of the building. If there are no blueprints, if you don’t consult those blueprints, you’re never quite sure what you will end up with. You must always CONSULT THE BLUEPRINTS BEFORE DRIVING THE NAILS!
Today, as we look at our construction site, we notice that all of the supplies are sitting here. The tools are here. Everything is ready for the project to begin. But, over here on this big table, we have our large set of blueprints. A set of blueprints that will direct us to our final goals. That will get us to the completion of our project.
And we must spend our time studying these blueprints to keep us on track, on mission, as we build. In our lives, studying the blueprints are vital to our success as well. To keep us on track, to keep us on mission. Consulting the blueprints are critical if we are to accomplish all that we set out to do. And in our lives, we have BIBLICAL BLUEPRINTS that we must follow.
You see, what happens to your house when it’s not built according to plan? Without a proper foundation, without a plan to make it withstand the test of time. Perhaps the best example of this?
THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA
It is a freestanding bell tower of the cathedral of Pisa in Italy.
They began construction in August 1173.
Almost immediately the structure began to sink into the soft foundation, and tilt. Over the course of three hundred years, they continued to build, and constantly tried to fix the Tower.
When finally completed, the tower stood 186 feet tall...except that the tower leans to the southeast- So MUCH so that the lower side is three feet shorter than the higher side!
It tilts at an angle of 5 1/2 degrees. That doesn’t sound like much, does it? Except that means the tower leans over 13 feet to one side, from vertical!
What makes this worse is that, once built on a faulty foundation, it is almost impossible to fix it! A church must either start right, or it almost never gets fixed.
During WWII, Benito Mussolini order that the tower be returned to a vertical position, and that concrete be poured into the foundation. You would think it would be fixed, right? WRONG! The result was that the tower actually sank further into the soil!
In 1990, a group of engineers met to attempt to fix and stabilize the Tower. For eleven years they worked. Time Magazine in June 25, 2001 edition stated that they finally made it safer, but the only thing they could do was use lead counterweights. They couldn’t straighten it out! The damage was done, nothing could bring it back.
What’s so important from this story? If we follow the plans, if we build according to the blueprints, we will get it right, THE FIRST TIME.
So many times, we as Christians, get so fired up to begin the work. We are so excited about what God is doing that we want to just go out there and start working, start doing, start reaching, but we don’t go according to plan. We don’t use the blueprints that God has laid out for us that will keep us on the right track.
And when we get off the right track, even with great intentions, we can build in the wrong way. And the damage will be done. That is exactly what Satan wants us to do. I mentioned last week, SATAN CAN NEVER MOVE THE HAND OF GOD BUT HE CAN MOVE THE HEART OF MAN!
What does that mean? Satan can’t change the Biblical blueprints that God has set out for us, but if he can get us to ignore the blueprints, to ignore the Bible, he can move our hearts away from God.
HOW DO WE KNOW THIS?
SATAN IS A COUNTERFEITER- his favorite activity is to falsify the “blueprints” of life: he sells sinking sand as if it were bedrock, he sells bad blueprints as if they were mansions, and he sells hell as if it may look like heaven.
Beware of ...
false gods (Exodus 20:3),
false prophets (Matthew 7:15),
false Christs (Matthew 24:24),
another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4),
another gospel (Galatians 1:6),
false brethren (2 Corinthians 11:26),
false teachers (2 Peter 2:1-2),
false apostles (2 Corinthians 11:13),
and Satan who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9).
Satan is a deceiver and the way he can get us to mess up the building of our lives, the building of our church, is to get us to take our eyes off of the blueprints and build in the wrong way.
You see, here we have all of our supplies. These are the supplies that we will use to build. These are the right supplies. But when we take them and start working without consulting the blueprints, they may be the right supplies but they will end up being used in the wrong way. And, they will be useless.
OUR BIBLICAL BLUEPRINTS NOT ONLY GIVE US THE PLANS OF HOW WE MUST BUILD TO BE SUCCESSFUL, THEY ALSO GIVE US THE PLANS OF WHAT WE WILL NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL.
In other words, they give us our materials list. Our supply list. The list of things that we must do to see this house, to see our lives, to see our church, built correctly.
OUR LIST OF SUPPLIES
1. FAITH
Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Mark 4:37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
Christ showed them that He did care for them. And not only did He care about how they feel, He also has the power to do something about it.
In our lives, so many times we lose our faith. We love God, but we are not willing to have the faith necessary to succeed. We must be men and women of faith. Knowing that He will provide, knowing that He will protect, knowing that He will take care of us in the midst of our storms.
Our faith is an important part in seeing this building completed. In seeing our lives completed. In seeing our church completed. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him!
2. PRAYER
Phil 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Four words for prayer in Philippians 4:6:
“prayer” = general word for prayer; includes praise
“supplication” = requesting prayer for very specific issues and concerns
“thanksgiving” = dialogue with God out of a heart of gratitude
“requests” = prayers involving asking for something
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Notice this, if the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, then what do the prayers of a non-righteous man accomplish?
If our relationship with Christ is weak, then our prayers will be weak. And I don’t know about you, but I would much rather know that my prayers were actually “availing much” than not doing much at all!
3. BIBLE STUDY
In other words, meditating on His words, reading the Bible, and internalizing its words. Using the Bible as the guiding light in our lives.
Psa. 1:1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psa. 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet. And a light to my path.
We must read the Bible and meditate on its words. Knowing the word of God. Far more than just knowing about the words, but truly knowing the words in our hearts. Using those words to direct us, to comfort us, to lead us, as we accomplish great things for Him.
4. OBEDIENCE
Deut. 13:4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
This is our duty. To obey His words. To keep His commandments. To know what it is that He wants us to do, then simply do it.
Josh. 24:24 And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”
In order to see God move in the next five years in a great way than He has in the past, we must say what the Israelites proclaimed to Joshua. , “The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”
This is what we must do to see our vision happen. To see all of those things that we are trusting God for come true. To see our church become all that God intends.
As we’ve gone through these blueprints today, the one thing that we can all notice is that this is also a blueprint for the Christian life.
And putting our faith and trust in Him. Having a powerful prayer life, that conversation with God. Studying His word…reading the Bible fervently, and obeying His words.
That is what will lead us to build our lives and to build our church correctly. Following His blueprint in our lives.
That’s the blueprint for the successful Christian life. And I can assure you, that unless we are all doing exactly what this blueprint says, we will not be effective in this church and effective in our lives.
Col. 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, [OUR FAITH] 7 rooted and built up in Him [OUR PRAYER LIFE] and established in the faith, as you have been taught, [BIBLE STUDY] abounding in it with thanksgiving. [OUR OBEDIENCE]
Let’s commit today to follow this blueprint to success in our lives. Being sure of our salvation, submitting to Him, and sanctifying ourselves before Him on a daily basis. That’s what will help us build this house, help us build this church, and help us build our lives.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
