BUILD HIS KINGDOM 5
BUILD HIS KINGDOM • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Announcements
Announcements
Helps needed! Rotations for:
Church cleaning crew
AV Team
We also have some needs here at the facility with building projects or other maintenance.
Church on the Mountain We’ll have first planning meeting next Sunday after service
Gardaland! Aug 3rd. Sign-ups for group rate discounts and carpooling.
Welcome Home Party! today - an opportunity to find where you can be an active part of the Refuge Aviano family
Recap
Recap
Ezra 1 “…build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel…”
Nehemiah 2:18 (CSB)
18 …They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened to do this good work.
GOD IS LOOKING FOR KINGDOM BUILDERS!
I have been overjoyed in the testimonies I have heard lately of God doing His work amongst His people!
14 You are the God who works wonders; you revealed your strength among the peoples.
I thank God that He’s doing it!
I thank God that He’s awakening spiritual warriors for His Kingdom!
I thank God that He’s continuing to write stories - and in some cases RE-write stories!
Won’t He do it?!
Literal boldness given to sons and daughters that have stood IN FAITH, TRUSTING GOD in a moment- and He’s strengthening our hands to do the work.
I thank God for the renewed desires we’re seeing - to get back to the Throne of Grace…to get back to the Presence of God
We need the presence of God in our lives!
I want to remind you - as we’ve seen in Ezra & Nehemiah, as we see the template of a Christian’s life - prophetically spoken through Ezra & Nehemiah and the restoration of Israel;
We see the order and priorities of a Believer’s life - revolves around the presence of God in our lives.
Back in their day, the Temple was the central position of daily life
16 Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
And we saw through the Sheep Gate that the only way to have the Presence of God is to first acknowledge and hold precious the sacrifice - the Lamb of God who is Jesus - who took away the sins of the World.
To acknowledge and hold PRECIOUS the blood of Jesus that Jesus shed freely for the remission of our sins.
And last week we looked over the Fish Gate - where we saw and understand that those who now freely have communion with God have the opportunity and should be telling others about it! As we travel life’s way, the people that we come in contact with, should know about the One who gave all of His life and gave it FREELY so that they TOO can have communion with God
We’ve got to be fishers of men and women. We’ve got to get the good Word out that Jesus is alive today and is anticipating returning to take His children home with Him.
Church, He’s head over heels in love with you - and He’s anticipating, He’s waiting for that appointed time to come and rescue His bride away.
I keep going back to this in Colossians 1 - talking about the preeminence of Christ. I changed it up this week by changing the Bible translation to the Message Bible and I loved the way this was worded
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
15 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. 16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. 17 He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. 18 And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. 19 So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. 20 Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
And check this out -
21 You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. 22 But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. 23 You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.
The Old Gate
The Old Gate
6 Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate. They built it with beams and installed its doors, bolts, and bars. 7 Next to them the repairs were done by Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, and the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, who were under the authority of the governor of the region west of the Euphrates River. 8 After him Uzziel son of Harhaiah, the goldsmith, made repairs, and next to him Hananiah son of the perfumer made repairs. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
9 Next to them Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. 10 After them Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs across from his house. Next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs. 11 Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab made repairs to another section, as well as to the Tower of the Ovens. 12 Beside him Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs—he and his daughters.
The Old Gate comes back to a worshipful heart and recognizing Jesus for who He is - the King of kings and Lord of Lords
Sometimes we lose sight of what this truly means…the glory, the splendor, the authority, the might - of the King of all kings, of the Lord of all lords
Current societal trends is to always be on the move
We live in a society where we are always looking for the next best thing
What is the newest trend
What is the latest technology
What is the most progressive view
What’s the latest form of entertainment
And while we can experience new gadgets and technologies that help us live extraordinary lives; sometimes that gives us a perspective of the old as ordinary.
I’d like to challenge that view point today.
As someone born in the last century, the last millenium, the late 1900’s; I have a certain appreciation for the old and the new.
I was born in the days of the VCR, the cassette player, pre-home internet, and when the Internet came to our house, we had the news groups, chat groups, and very few people had email addresses.
We had a phone with a 15 ft cord for the headset that upgraded to cordless!
We’re the Xennials - We were the last generation to grow up depending on the old analog ways AND the new digital ways.
Church worship were all hymns from the Red back hymnal - and my family was progressive enough to adopt contemporary and modern gospel music.
Our church in the 90’s used a cutting edge slide projector! We had to write the lyrics of songs on a slide every week! And eventually laser printers would print on slides and remove that work.
I was born in the days of owning libraries!
You had your VCR and DVD library
You had your cassette tower and CD library - back before the days of Limewire and MP3 trading!
And we had these things called books that had bound paper with actual ink-printed words on them.
The scary thing is that now “my day” is referred to as vintage - and while some of you may laugh now, as our daily lives continue to move faster and faster - as change becomes more and more constant; your day will become vintage faster than our’s did.
Despite this light-hearted view of memory lane and the aging process, I’m reminded of a few verses:
9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
We can say history has a way of repeating itself, and that what we see is simply a repacked reoccurrence of what was once before.
You see, Jesus came into this world at exactly the right time. He didn’t come earlier than He should have, He didn’t come later than He should have.
Jesus came at an exact point in human history - on PURPOSE.
26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.
26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The culmination of the ages - that means anything would be done by humanity from a spiritual or ethical or moral perspective, it was done. He came at the exact point in human history that was the pinnacle of human history.
And so again, anything we’re seeing in society today spiritually speaking has already been done.
Everything we see now play out in this world spiritually speaking is a reiteration or resurgence of what was once before.
In a world where societies pride themselves in progressive movements and cultural changes, all we’re seeing is a reiteration of what was done before.
We see a hyper-sexualized world that in the name of progressivism is celebrated
It’s a reiteration of what we’ve read in scripture about Sodom and Gomorrah where out of the immensity of their sin, there was a cry that went to heaven God could no longer endure and His wrath annihilated the city.
We know the cultural travesty that was prevalent under the days of Nero as Caesar over Rome; with all kinds of evil and crimes against humanity
We’re seeing a resurgence of idol worship and witchcraft within the United States culture - a resurgence of crystals and incense for “improved vibes” or warding off evil or bad karma.
We’ve even seen a resurgence of old world religions, celtic religions with druids and rituals, some have begun returning to animal sacrificing and drinking the blood of animals and in some cases humans in searching for an abundant life.
We know in parts of the world, they still worship hand-carved idols and speak to them as if they were real individuals and real gods.
There is nothing new under the sun.
To steal a line here - since the beginning of time, oceans rise, and empires fall, but God has remained constant through it all.
And so it shouldn’t be a wonder then that the Old Gate refers to the old ways.
The New King James Version Chapter 3
6 Moreover Jehoiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors, with its bolts and bars. 7 And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, repaired the residence of the governor of the region beyond the River. 8 Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Also next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they fortified Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. 9 And next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, leader of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. 10 Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs in front of his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabniah made repairs.
11 Malchijah the son of Harim and Hashub the son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section, as well as the Tower of the Ovens. 12 And next to him was Shallum the son of Hallohesh, leader of half the district of Jerusalem; he and his daughters made repairs.
The Old Gate - referring to the old ways solidified and anchored in Truth.
It speaks of the old ways that people had experienced with lessons learned, gained wisdom with what matters most in life.
It speaks of maybe lesser quality of life, but an abundance of life compared to the walking dead of modernity.
Again, today we are in danger of our pride - being proud of the technological marvels and wonders of today, in extending our earthly lives, and gaining so much for ourselves.
But oh there is so much to learn from the Old Ways!
Where we have the book of Proverbs, with a chapter for every day of the month, where we pull wisdom and life application.
Where we gain understanding for living a life of value, of purpose, and fruitful living.
As a matter of fact, we read in Jeremiah 6:16
16 This is what the Lord says: Stand by the roadways and look. Ask about the ancient paths, “Which is the way to what is good?” Then take it and find rest for yourselves. But they protested, “We won’t!”
Saints of God, there is a better way to go! There is a path can bring rest for your souls, if you’d take heed!
It’s not wrong to ask the old-heads for the better path! It’s not wrong to sit and look at all the options before you, and ask someone whose gone down a path or two in life, “which is the path to take?”
THE OLDER TEACH THE YOUNGER
This is the benefit of the Church and the Church body - where there is wisdom from those who have been down the path a little longer that can help those a little fresher on the path.
Titus 2 talks about this - about the examples the younger generations can follow
1 But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching. 2 Older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. 3 In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered.
Paul writes to the Church explaining what a Christian man looks like, what a Christian woman looks like.
It’s reflective of the heart of God and in good standing with our testimony. We should desire these things! We should desire and ask the questions in how to live a godly and holy life before our Almighty God.
I’ll even say it this way - that we are a fool if we don’t. It is foolish to reject counsel, to reject teaching and say “I’m going to go my own way” when God has appointed a man of God or a woman of God in your path.
This ‘I’m gonna do me” mentality stands opposed to the One called faithful and true. Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The Ancient of Days
The Ancient of Days
16 This is what the Lord says: Stand by the roadways and look. Ask about the ancient paths, “Which is the way to what is good?” Then take it and find rest for yourselves. But they protested, “We won’t!”
In the book of Daniel, chapter 7, we see a beautiful title in reference to our Lord.
9 “As I kept watching, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white like snow, and the hair of his head like whitest wool. His throne was flaming fire; its wheels were blazing fire. 10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from his presence. Thousands upon thousands served him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.
13 I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. 14 He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.
Church, we serve the Ancient of Days, the one who is self-described in Revelation 1:8
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
We’re talking about the Creator, and the Judge of all creation. We’re talking about the Prince of Peace, and the bridegroom of the Church. We’re talking about the High Priest, and the perfect sacrifice. We’re talking about the One who was in the beginning, and the One who will be after the End.
He is Who He is. He is the Great I am. HE IS THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
When we talk about the Old Gate, understanding the need to search for the ancient ways, God is He who always was and always has been. He is the On who is before the beginning, whose days no no number. He is the Ancient of Days, where He is before every day, (pick a day, He was before that one) and Whose relevance to tomorrow still holds strong.
His Throne is the seat of Judgment, a seat of fire and holiness; all authority, power, and dominion flow from and through Him.
His Judgments are true and they are righteous.
When we look at Nehemiah 3:6-11, we see the correlation of the Old Gate and the Ancient of Days. We see the seat of government associated with the Ancient Ways. We see that even the goldsmiths and perfumers worked around the Throne of Grace, the place of beauty and splendor. We see both men and women working together and doing the Kingdom Work.
Embracing the Old Ways, the ancient ways, is the Life of a Christian - to remember the Ancient of Days is still the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Ultimately there is a rest waiting for us, a rest in arms of God Himself. A rest in perfect peace, when He finally says, “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest.”
We will see it one day! But until that day, we are here proclaiming the Day of the Lord, and the Way we should go!
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
