Our congregation is on the verge of moving into a building and creating a new space to worship. It is an exciting time and one that has been anticipated due to the growth our community has experienced over the past few years. As the proposal to build was brought forward, the words of the Lord came to my mind, "Noah came out of the ark....then built an altar to the Lord..." Genesis 8:18-20
And Abraham after he was told to leave his country, his people, and his father's household and go to a place God would show him, he left and traveled to Canaan. There God spoke and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So, Abraham, 'built an altar there to the Lord, who appeared to him."
And down through the ages of mighty men of God, Isaac built an altar, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, David, and Elijah all built altars to the one true God. Today, our altar is Jesus the Messiah - and whatever we build is to reflect that truth. Our focus should be first the Altar from which we worship and from there all things will flow. As we stumble out of the ark which has become too small during the time He sheltered us on Troy Street, we will now build an altar to God on Belmont and Cicero.
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count,
but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty
years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred,
the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault
upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and
eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis,
people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build
and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work. Taken from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers for May 7th
And Abraham after he was told to leave his country, his people, and his father's household and go to a place God would show him, he left and traveled to Canaan. There God spoke and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So, Abraham, 'built an altar there to the Lord, who appeared to him."
And down through the ages of mighty men of God, Isaac built an altar, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, David, and Elijah all built altars to the one true God. Today, our altar is Jesus the Messiah - and whatever we build is to reflect that truth. Our focus should be first the Altar from which we worship and from there all things will flow. As we stumble out of the ark which has become too small during the time He sheltered us on Troy Street, we will now build an altar to God on Belmont and Cicero.
Building For Eternity
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work. Taken from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers for May 7th
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