“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.” (II Samuel 7:10-11)
The title of this blog post is a joke we have thrown around a lot over the years. It seems we spent so much time moving members of the church that we coined that cute little “title”. Now it’s our turn. As the saga continues for Crest Bible Church, the process of moving in to our new location is now front and center. Most everyone has experienced at least one move in their lives, with all the accompanying issues that take place. It is impossible to move without breaking something. (Federal law requires it). You find all sorts of strange and interesting things you never knew you had, but the one thing you really need cannot be found even with a search team and bloodhounds. You stick boxes on shelves intending to get to them some day. But we all know that “some day” is the next time you move 15 years later. Moving is so frustrating because of the level of work required. Virtually every endeavor of life can be considered successful if you get most of it done. If you succeed only 30% in baseball, you make the Hall of Fame. If I can guess right in the stock market just 51% of the time I can be rich. “Two out of three ain’t bad” is good enough for most everything else. If you only get 95% in a move, you are a miserable failure.
The part of the move we are in now is setting up the new place. We had a leadership meeting a couple of days ago and began to identify the list of items we have on the radar right now. Just in a couple of hours, we have listed 67 items so far, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. As we tackle that list, it will only grow. The more we do, the longer the list will get.
As we seek to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in our daily Christian walk, the work is daunting just like it is in a move. There is always something else to do. As long as there are people who do not know the Saviour, we cannot rest. We constantly see another ministry or another activity that can be used to draw the lost to Christ or strengthen the bond of fellowship among the saved.
David was driven in II Samuel chapter 7 to tackle a very ambitious project of building a Temple for the Lord. He saw that the tabernacle was portable while he had his own house to live in, and it made him want to build a house for God’s presence. His project was much more ambitious than the remodel of an elementary school (although I don’t think he had to put a fire sprinkler system in the Temple!). As his heart was stirred to build for his Lord, God sent him a message through Nathan the prophet. The gist of the message was simple: the work is God’s first. We bought the school because we were “moved” to find a place to grow and reach more people for Christ. But the second verse of the Bible begins, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters…” While we are “moved” to his service, God moved first. God expects us to work and build. I Corinthians 3:8-10 says we are to be “wise masterbuilders”, and that God will give to every man according to his own labour. But the work begins with the work of God in our hearts.
God told David that before he could build a house for him, that God would build David a house first. That is a direct reference to the “house of David”, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, the true “Son of David”. Any work we do must be based in God’s Son. Psalm 127:1 says, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” Our work begins with God moving in our hearts to accomplish his will. As we labour for him, we follow his lead and draw from his strength and his plans. If God truly builds the house for us first, we can be sure that our building for him will be blessed.
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