Building the House of God (6 of 19)
Series: Ezra
Mike Stone
Ezra 3:8-11
Part of the series: EZRA
Praising the God Who Rebuilds and Restores
I want to emphasize this point at the beginning of each message in this series. At first, it appears to be a book about rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. But it's more about God rebuilding a people for the ultimate glory of Jesus.
As we embark on our own building project, I want to use the book of Ezra to keep us focused on this truth. The work of God is never about building a building. It's about building a people for the glory of the Lord Jesus.
Yet while the work of God is not ABOUT building a building, oftentimes the work of God INCLUDES the building of a building. Such is the case in Ezra 3. And such is the case in this season in the life of our church.
We have recently introduced an emphasis called, ''NextGenNow,'' as we give attention to providing facilities and space to reach the next generation NOW. In the next few weeks, I will be sharing more specifics about the plans your NextGenNow Building Committee is proposing and we hope to have actual construction documents from our architect in time for our year end church conference in December.
With that in mind, I want us to look at these initial actions taken by the people of God in the days of Zerubabbel as they go about building the house of God.
The people of God had been in captivity for decades. Their captors had decimated the city and destroyed the temple. Under the leadership of Zerubabbel and Jeshua, the exiles have returned and the rebuilding work has begun.
When we get to this text, the altar has been rebuilt, sacrifices have been made, large offerings have been given to the building fund and the foundation of the reconstructed temple has been laid.
In our vernacular, we might say the footers have been poured and the slab has been finished. That represents much work. But now, the greater and more obvious work is about to begin ...
Series: Ezra
Mike Stone
Ezra 3:8-11
Part of the series: EZRA
Praising the God Who Rebuilds and Restores
I want to emphasize this point at the beginning of each message in this series. At first, it appears to be a book about rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. But it's more about God rebuilding a people for the ultimate glory of Jesus.
As we embark on our own building project, I want to use the book of Ezra to keep us focused on this truth. The work of God is never about building a building. It's about building a people for the glory of the Lord Jesus.
Yet while the work of God is not ABOUT building a building, oftentimes the work of God INCLUDES the building of a building. Such is the case in Ezra 3. And such is the case in this season in the life of our church.
We have recently introduced an emphasis called, ''NextGenNow,'' as we give attention to providing facilities and space to reach the next generation NOW. In the next few weeks, I will be sharing more specifics about the plans your NextGenNow Building Committee is proposing and we hope to have actual construction documents from our architect in time for our year end church conference in December.
With that in mind, I want us to look at these initial actions taken by the people of God in the days of Zerubabbel as they go about building the house of God.
The people of God had been in captivity for decades. Their captors had decimated the city and destroyed the temple. Under the leadership of Zerubabbel and Jeshua, the exiles have returned and the rebuilding work has begun.
When we get to this text, the altar has been rebuilt, sacrifices have been made, large offerings have been given to the building fund and the foundation of the reconstructed temple has been laid.
In our vernacular, we might say the footers have been poured and the slab has been finished. That represents much work. But now, the greater and more obvious work is about to begin ...
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