CHOSEN
TO BUILD OUR TEMPLES
BREAD
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's
building. 10 By the grace God
has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is
building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation
other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation
using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is,
because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the
fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If
what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will
suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the
flames. 16 Don't you know that
you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God
will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. 1
Corinthians 3:9-17 (NIV)
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not
your own; 20 you were bought
at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1
Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with
them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians
6:16 (NIV)
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to
be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of
God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is
godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the
oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he
wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no
change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. Hebrews 12:14-17 (NIV)
2 This is what the LORD
Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.’” Haggai
1:2 (NIV)
3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its
former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like
nothing? 4 But now be strong,
O Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD. ‘Be
strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people
of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and
work. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD
Almighty. Haggai 2:3-4 (NIV)
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set
your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on
earthly things. 3 For you died, and
your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When
Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever
belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires
and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because
of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You
used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such
things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your
lips. 9 Do not lie to each other,
since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is
being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:1-10 (NIV)
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as
members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or
deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him. Colossians 3:15-17 (NIV)
18 “But will God really dwell on earth with men? The
heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this
temple I have built! 19 Yet give
attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer
that your servant is praying in your presence. 20
May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place
of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your
servant prays toward this place. 2 Chronicles 6:18-20 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Truth must enter into the
soul, penetrate and saturate it, or else it is of no value. Doctrines held as a matter of creed are like
bread in the hand, which ministers no nourishment to the frame, but doctrine
accepted by the heart, is as food digested, which, by assimilation, sustains
and builds up the body.” Charles
H. Spurgeon
“Never
dread any consequence resulting from absolute obedience to His command. Never fear the rough waters ahead, which
through their proud contempt impede your progress. God is greater than the roar of raging water
and the mighty waves of the sea. ‘The
Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever’
(Psalm 29:10). A storm is simply the hem
of His robe, the sign of His coming, and the evidence of His presence. Dare to trust Him! Dare to follow Him! Then discover that the forces that blocked
your progress and threatened your life become at His command the very materials
He uses to build your street of freedom.” F. B.
Meyer
“For us to grow in maturity, it's not enough to just read God's
Word. We need to obey it and put it into practice. Much as an athlete builds
physical muscles through repetition and conditioning, we build spiritual
muscles by learning, obeying, and living God's Word. Sound Bible study
transforms our lives by training our minds and hearts. Bible literacy protects
us from error and increases our love for God himself. By giving us His Word and His Spirit, God has
given us everything we need for spiritual maturity. Failure to grow is always
our choice, never God's. What are we doing today to help us grow and mature as
Christians?” Donna Evans
“We
don’t normally like being on the bottom.
It’s just not the position we generally pick. It goes against our flesh. Yet, in the Bible’s economy you stoop to
rise, you lower and God elevates.
Therefore, rock bottom appears the perfect place to simply look up and
the perfect time to begin building upon the solid foundation of the Rock of
Christ. Often stripped of our dearest
Delilah’s we are not too dissimilar to the returning prodigal. We have nothing but our will to bring – do we
really ever have anything else? And
Jesus says tenderly, ‘Come’. On Him you
can depend. On Him you can count. On Him you can trust. He turns away no one. He will never let the righteous fall or blow
away for that matter. His grip is firm
and secure. Much akin to a young mother
grabbing her two-year-old in busy traffic and yet so infinitely more. He dearly loves His children and He always
causes them to stand because He is faithful and able to cause us to stand – no
matter what wind blows.” BHY
“The whole
quest for what-is-missing often reminds me of the original couple in the Garden
who just could not abide the idea there was one tree that remained
off-limits. It’s the backdrop, I think, to every one of my
inclinations to fixate on what I don’t have—rather, than what I’ve been given. Relationships suffer from this grasping
discontent. We build best when we build out from the solid places.
In some strange way, your strengths as a
couple buttress the shaky parts you may never master.” Paula
Rinehart
“All
work is sacred work for the child of the King.
There is to be no difference between the secular and the sacred. The believer brings the glory of God and the
sweet aroma of Jesus to every job – every encounter - working wholeheartedly as
unto the Lord – not for man - through the achieving power of the indwelling
Holy Spirit. All jobs from motherhood to
medical to janitorial to legal to businessman to student to server to whatever
– makes no difference the “what” rather the motivation behind why we do what we
do which is to bring God all glory. It
is His desire for us to work and take care of His world – just as He told Adam
before the fall – and bring the Good News to others in our spheres through both
our actions and words. This is for our
ultimate good btw, satisfying both heart and soul. We live our lives for an audience of One and
our goal is to hear a ‘well done good and faithful servant.’” BHY
HEART
SAVOR
- As believers in sweet Jesus, He is the foundation of our lives and we decide how we are going to build upon it.
- We oftentimes put off building our temples, but not to act is to act.
- The glory of the former temples – Paul, Peter, and John for example, makes the modern-day temples pale by comparison.
