“…The Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? says the Lord…’” (Acts 7:48-49)
Join me in visualizing the Lord God standing before our church this coming Sunday morning and asking the question: “What kind of house will you build for Me?” How would we, China Grove First Baptist Church, respond? I think we all have some ideas about what our church should be, but are we doing all we can to develop our church into the church that would please the Lord? Are we all on the same page with God about what He wants? As long as it’s my ideas and your ideas and their ideas, where is God in all this? The Psalmist was right when he said, “Unless the Lord builds the house, it builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1a).
Will you join me in seeking the face of God for our church? Will you join me in lifting up our Long Range Planning Committee, who will be doing the needed praying and research to help us move with God into His future?
In our study of Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life we learned that the purposes of our individual lives and the life of each local church are worship, fellowship, discipleship, service and evangelism. Pray about those as you consider our church moving into God’s future. How can we fulfill those 5 important purposes? In addition you may want to give some prayer thought to how we can become a:
- House of prayer – Jesus said that God’s house is to be a house of prayer (Matthew 21:13; Isaiah 56:7). After Peter confessed Jesus as the “Christ the Son of the living God”, Jesus said, “…this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven. And…on this rock I will build My church”. Could the rock on which the church is built be God revealing Himself to His people through prayer?
- House of Holiness – Peter says, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood…” (Peter 2:5). The Psalmist says that “holiness adorns Your house for endless days, O lord” (Psalm 93:5)
- House of Faith – Jesus told the story of 2 men building houses on different foundations. He emphasizes the importance of building on the rock of faith. He says, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). What is true about a person’s life is also true about God’s church.
- House of love & encouragement – Meditate on Hebrews 10:21-25 for a while. Because Christ is over the house of God, we are to see to it that we reach out to others in love and encouragement. The world ought to know we are Christians by our love.
- House of hope – The writer of Hebrews says, “…And we are His house, if we hold on to our courage and…hope…” (Hebrews 3:6). We need to be living in hope and offering hope to a lost world.
God expects us to be co-laborers with Him as He builds His church. Can He count on you? I sure want to be part of His construction crew, but first let’s make sure we have His blueprints.
Seeking the Architect,
Bro. Steve