Do You Care More About Bricks and Mortar Than Yourself?
Where we first were introduced to Jesus Christ doesn't make the place we were introduced as the place you should stay for the rest of your life. The building where the change happened for you is not where the power to change came from. The change that came occurred from the Spirit of the Living God who came into the building where you are because you were truly ready to surrender to Him. Wherever you decided to surrender to Him... could have been at the restaurant.... in that garage... in your office at the job... or in your home. The place did not bring the change... but your desire to surrender to God completely in that moment alerted Him to you being ready for His piercing presence.
Too many of us hold in high regard the building where that happened and we worship the place where we first met Him. He will only come where He is welcome. If you are not willing to receive Him but you come to a building where others are receiving Him in that moment... is it the building that is bringing about the change? For if it was, then why didn't you change when you entered the building? Because the building is not what brings about the change, it's the heart of the person who has surrendered completely to God and in that moment God comes to that person specifically to bring about the change one is seeking. It has always been a personal experience that is spiritual. A man made building can only set the atmosphere for a person to make a decision to surrender... but God, knowing the true heart of the person in that moment, will determine if that person is ready to receive Him.
Friends, stop worshiping the building where you first found God and understand that when you decided to surrender... no matter where you were at that moment... He would have come to you. The building is not the temple... but instead... the temple is you... and if you are willing to allow Him to reside in you... then people will be drawn to the God in you because you are now a living Epistle. That's why when the word says when two or more come together in my name... for I am there. When you have a bunch of living epistles who come together wherever.. that place will be radically changed because change did not come from the building, but change came from the God within them that brought about change and those who were willing to surrender to God... were changed and are now becoming a living epistle.
The choice is yours. When you hold a higher regard for the building where you first found Him, You have missed the point about the Temple and Jesus building a new Temple,
How we live our lives when we are away from the building determines what we really worship and believe in. Many missed the point about what Jesus said in John 2:19. "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." If someone said to destroy your building you call church and in three days they would raise it up... you would be willing to fight them to the death.
In Mark 14:58 false witnesses attempted to use that statement against Him... but they did not understand. He was talking about His physical body which is where God resided because God had left the building the Pharisees worshiped in... a long time ago because their hearts weren't right with God. Jesus body, the new Temple would be destroyed... put to death and rebuilt (made new/resurrected) raised from the dead 3 days later with all power that comes from the Kingdom.
John 2:21-22
21 But he spake of the temple of his body.
22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
When we believe in Jesus... believing meaning to obey Him... doing what He says to repent of our sins, believing that He died for our sins and was raised from the dead 3 days later with all power, be baptized in the name of the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit... then we become that Temple too where God resides... because it is Christ in us. The temple must begin to move fourth into the world to disciple others (Matthew 28:16-20). You can't disciple (Go from that place where you found Him) when you are unwilling to leave the building you worship because that's where you first met Him. When you stay at a building out of loyalty to ancestrial ties, friendship bonds... you have now been bound to a future that is exactly like the dead sea. Your worship of those things is now keeping you in bondage unwilling to move when God tells you to move because the voice of physical ties is stronger than the voice of God who is telling you to Go.
You will know if Christ is truly in you, because you will begin to walk like He walked, talk like He talked, Love like He loved... show compassion like He showed compassion... share the truth of His word like he presented the truth of who He is. You my friend who finds himself doing this... can now Go fourth and make disciples. Discipleship is not about bringing people to your building... but instead being that Living Temple that helps them to see their purpose and to go fourth and do what you did for them. Moses experienced the burning bush on that mountain, but keep in mind... When he received His instructions... He did not just stay at the mountain... He was obedient to the voice of God... and the voice of God was with Him as He obeyed what God told Him to do on that mountain. The mountain was the place God revealed Himself to Moses because God knew Moses heart was ready to receive Him.
I say this to those who have and ear to hear. Many are tied to the building because of ancestrial ties, tradition, friendship and family bonds... and in the process have become like the Dead Sea. And now the building is the Dead Sea. The building becomes the Dead Sea when everyone in the building sees the building as the Holy Place. Go out from that place and make disciples... planting new fellowships...being fruitful and multiplying now that you know what it is to produce good fruit. And do not forsaken the assembly of other living epistles so that you can encourage one another... provoking them to righteousness through Christ Jesus. My Friend there is only one Church... one body and at the head of it all is Jesus. The body of Christ no matter where you fellowship should be able to come together with other Christ Followers to encourage one another for the task of Matthew 28:16-20. When you become territorial and unwilling to work with other parts of the ONE body... you begin to break off from the body and create your own space... your own sandbox. You can not function correctly if you are not tied to the body and working in conjunction with other parts of the body!
Vincent J. McCaskill - Lead Pastor
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