Sunday Service - 2025-07-13

Sunday Service - 2025-07-13

Episode description

Jesus, The Master Builder
Hebrews 3:1-6

Pastor Chris Bonner

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0:14

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

0:18

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

0:24

Thank you for joining us today.

0:35

But welcome everyone. And I also want to mention the men's breakfast coming up in a couple of weeks

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and our very own Ken Bailey will be sharing about prayer. If you know Ken, you know that he

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prays with purpose and he keeps records and he knows he could see the evidence of the prayers.

0:54

And so it's important to remember when God actually answers prayers and provides those things that we

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ask for. So men, make sure you show up for that. It's going to be a great time.

1:08

And now let's open up to Hebrews chapter three. We're only looking at six verses today.

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And we'll only be stopping once. I'd like to kind of give you a forerunner of how it's going to look

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so you can predict a little bit about the flow of the morning. Jesus, the master builder.

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You know, it's interesting, as you know, as a Calvary Chapel, we go through the Bible

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pretty much verse by verse or chapter by chapter and stop where certain themes start to shift,

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you know. And as we do that, from time to time, we'll do topics, but typically not.

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And I just love when something happens that is an obvious alignment with the topic of today.

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And Danny and Tara spoke this morning about really building healthy households, right?

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Healthy homes, raising children to know the Lord. And what's amazing is that's what our

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messages about this morning is really having a healthy home, a Godly home. And that's for

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all of us because we all are the house of God, aren't we? In fact, well, let's pray.

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Father God, we ask your spirit to move powerfully here this morning, Lord God.

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We thank you that you have chosen us to be living stones, Lord God.

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Part of the construction process of your house, of your home, Lord God.

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You say that we are vital parts of that home, Lord God. If you've called us to invite others

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into that household of faith. And so, Lord God, we ask you to cut through any confusion that I

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might present this morning and that your spirit would bring crystal clear clarity to everyone's

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heart and mind, Lord God, that we would hear only from you. We would take out of here only what

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you want us to receive so that it can empower our lives and that we can live like you. We can

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walk in the full stature of Christ. So we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

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As last week, if you can recall, the message was to Jesus, family is everything. Remember we talked

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about how we are his brother, we are his friend, we are the children of God, we are the household

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of God. And it was all about family. And it's interesting that the next chapter now goes into

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the house of God and that he's building his house. And as we talked about before,

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the Lord likes to use metaphors or analogies in scripture to compare the church to. Remember we

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talked about that the church is like the bride of Christ. The church is like the body, you know,

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how each one of us have a significant role in our bodies. Right now, I am highly valuing my lungs.

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Some of you know some of the things I've been going through and it's interesting how much you value

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things when they're threatened, you know. You realize how much of an impact they make on the

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rest of your body when something isn't working quite right, even like a sore big toe. Suddenly

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that's all you're thinking about because it affects everything. You know, our bodies are meant

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and to be working together and they're all, it's every part of us is very significant,

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but of course Christ is the head of the church, right. And then we talk last week about the family.

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Today we're going to talk about the building, the house of God, the household of God. And as we

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talk about the household of God, lots is we use analogies of literal construction, but we know

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it's not about a building, right. God is building a household of not bricks and stones and

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construction material. He's building a house of his saints. You know, he's building his house

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in the church of God. That's what we are, his building, his house of God.

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And you know, as a household, as a member of a household, okay, the head of the household,

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what do they provide? What should they provide? Some of us didn't necessarily grow up in tremendous

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households, but the head of a household, and in this case, the father of God,

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you know, he provides protection. He provides resources. He provides the priorities of the

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household. What's important, right? He provides education. He provides shelter. He provides many

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things that make that household a place that is dependable, that you aren't insecure,

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that you can know that the head of the household has everything under control. We're not threatened

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in the household of God, right? And that's our father, God. He's the head of the household,

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and he knows how to care for the members of his household. And the most important thing

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that God the father provides in his household is unconditional love, that environment of always

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welcoming in. He's always welcoming in to his family, you know? And that's what the Lord wants

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us to know, is that no matter where we go, the prodigal son is an obvious, easy picture of that,

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but really, he's always welcoming everyone to come back home, to live in his household,

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where we are safe, where we are protected, where we are loved, where we are provided for,

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where we have the priorities needed for success and to thrive in our lives, all those things. The

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head of the household, Father God, is providing all those things for his house, and we are the

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house of God. Amen. Amen. So let's dive into Hebrews chapter three. Like I said, we're going

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to start, we're going to stop abruptly, and then we will continue. But chapter three, verse one,

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therefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. Now, you know, we just should stop right

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there, and this is the only stop we're going to make, but partakers of the heavenly calling,

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you know, that word partakers, medicas, it means having a share in or being partners in.

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So we're really partakers and have a share in the heavenly calling. When he called you,

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you have a share in what is going on in heaven and your destiny in heaven, and not only a share,

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but also to be provided from God, for living here on earth, from the gifts from heaven.

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So really, we are partakers in that heavenly calling. We are called. Amen. The Greek word

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clasis means that we are called. Is everyone called? Is everyone called? I think he's calling

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everyone. That's my personal opinion, is that he is calling everyone. In fact, his gifts and

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calling are irrevocable. Perhaps the Lord just keeps on calling out, calling out to the world,

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and yet they're not hearing it or knowing the call is for them. It reminded me this morning of

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when Samuel, remember, was being called in Samuel chapter three, and the Lord called him and he

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woke up, and back then nobody was hearing from the Lord. It was very rare. And here's Samuel,

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this humble kid, just serving in the tabernacle, and the high priest Eli was just really not hearing

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from God, not serving God properly. And suddenly Samuel hears, and Samuel, Samuel, so Samuel gets

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up. Who's calling me? He runs to Eli, and he says, you called me. No, I didn't. Go back to bed.

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Again, second time, you called me. No, I didn't. Go back to bed. Third time,

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runs to Eli. Finally, Eli is catching on. Uh-oh. Somebody else is calling Samuel, and it isn't me.

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And he says, go back and say that your servant listens, your servant hears. Here I am, you know?

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And so that's when finally the Lord spoke to Samuel, giving him this information that he probably

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had wished he hadn't heard, but that was the Lord's calling, because it was a rebuke against

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his mentor and master, Eli. But nonetheless, he didn't know who was calling. I think people go

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through life sometimes hearing kind of like they think they're being called to something,

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but they're choosing every one other than God, because they think something's calling. I mean,

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I was watching this strange documentary called The Shark Whisperer. I don't know if you've ever

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seen it, but this lady that literally swims with great white sharks and tiger sharks,

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and it's just crazy to see this person underwater. Her husband's filming the whole thing,

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and this shark's swimming right up to her. She just reaches out her hand and touches the

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nose and steers this 20-foot tiger shark away. It's like nuts. How does that happen?

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But so she thinks that her calling in life, and she said it again and again,

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is just to know these aquamarine predators better. Well, that might be part of her calling,

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but her true calling, everyone's true calling, is to know the creator of that beast, right?

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Is to know our creator. We might think, oh, I was called in life to be a carpenter. Well,

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so was Jesus, but was that his inevitable calling? Of course, that was to save humanity, right?

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We may have low priority callings, but our true calling is to hear from heaven

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and to be aligned with that heavenly calling. Amen. In fact, I love, we went through the book of

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Romans a few months ago, and in Romans chapter eight, which to me is probably one of the most

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fan, amazing chapters, right? But it talked about how we are foreknown and we are predestined,

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okay? And then we're called, and this is kind of like the process of God calling. And then when we

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listen to that calling, when we respond to the calling, which is really an invitation,

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when we respond and come to him, he justifies us. He says, you can come in. You responded. You heard

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the call and you responded. Maybe everyone, to some degree, the Lord is preparing things for them,

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yet in his foreknowledge, he knows they'll never respond. You ever think about that? Like,

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some people have great things, great things that God prepared for them to do, but they're never

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going to know them because he never knew the one who prepared them, right? And so he calls and

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he justifies. He says, you can come in. And then he glorifies, meaning you are to carry

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me throughout the world. You are my glory on earth because my glory is upon you.

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And so that's the stages. But what's interesting is that that word called, okay?

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That word called, when you're called, if everyone is called, when do they become chosen?

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I believe it's when they respond to the call. They say, yes, I want to come. And they receive

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Christ and now they are chosen. You can come in because you came. You responded to the calling.

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You know, two times Jesus said that many are called, but few are chosen. You remember that?

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He said it two times in Matthew. And both times he said it, we're at the tag end of a parable.

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One time he said it was about a landowner who went and he hired workers to go out in the field. He said,

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I will pay you a denarius, a day's work and you can work. So they went because they were given a,

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or they would be given a denarius. So they worked for the denarius. But then three hours

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later he walked along and he saw these others just stand by and he's saying, you know what?

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Listen, go work on the field. I'll give you what seems right.

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They responded to him saying, I will give you what seems right. They trusted the landowner

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would take care of them. So they went on the field and started working. Six hours later,

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he sees others. You go work. I'll give you what seems right. The ninth hour, the one hour left.

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He saw people standing around. He says, go to work. I'll give you what seems right.

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And at the end, when he was paying them all, and the last one to come forward were the ones that

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were hired for a denarius came and they saw the other ones getting a denarius and like, wow,

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we're going to make out good here. You know, we sweat the whole day and they finally get to

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the landowner. He says, here's your denarius. And he's like, what? Wait a minute. You know,

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they got the same as us. Well, why are you angry? Because are you evil? Because I am good.

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Don't you see you agreed to work for a denarius? And then he said, many will be chosen. Many will

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be called, but few will be chosen. The point was that they were trusting the denarius. They

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worked for a denarius. Everyone else was trusting the landowner. You see that? That's why they

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were considered chosen because they trusted the landowner. The others were working for wages.

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They trusted the denarius, right? And then he said at a second time, when he was talking about that

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King who was having a wedding banquet for his son, and he went out and he told everyone who

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was previously invited, okay, to this wedding and nobody wanted to come. Then I got other things to

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do. Well, go send more. Finally, they were so irritated that the King kept inviting them

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to a wedding that finally they actually killed the servants. So Jesus says, what do you think that

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master did? You know, he went and he destroyed them. And then he invited everybody to come.

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Anyone, anyone, anyone, just come in, come in. And then finally, he's having a blast with all

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these people who never thought they would belong in the palace with the King. I think that's us.

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That's me. Like, I'm like, what am I doing? When I get there someday, I'm like,

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what in the world am I doing here? I don't belong here. I know some of you might, no, I'm kidding.

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None of us belong there. But I know I don't belong there. And yet this one man he comes across

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was not dressed in the wedding garb. And he says, how did you get in here? You know,

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he was dressed like the street clothes. He was dressed in the old life. And he says,

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take him out and they bound him up and threw him in the outer darkness where there's weeping

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and gnashing of teeth. But the point there, and then he says, you know, many are called,

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but few are chosen. That man came in the way he came, the way he was outside. Everyone else

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came in wedding clothes. And the whole picture of that is really, we are dressed in Christ,

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right? The only way we can enter that wedding is because we are dressed in Christ. We are

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dressed for the whole ceremony. And so the point in all of this is that we need to trust the

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landowner that who will take care of us. And when we go in, we have to go all in. We can't go in in

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our old life garb. Here I go. I'm just going to wear my old stuff. You, you, you, you called me

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like this. This is the way I'm going to stay. No, he's saying, no, I have far more things for you.

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Take those old garments off, those grave garments, like Lazarus, and put on a new garment, put on the

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new life, right? And that's why we can walk in the newness of life. So that's the picture we go from

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called to chosen when we respond. And so this is the idea that the Lord wants us to see in this

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verse is that we are all called from a heavenly calling. And it's so important for us to always

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remember that, you know, the apostle Paul always realized I was called for so much more than,

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than anything I ever realized until I received Christ. I responded to the calling and I was

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chosen. Peter said the same thing. I have two back-to-back verses stuck together.

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When Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippians 3, 14, he says, I press toward the goal for the

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prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You know, you are, you press into that.

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You have an, you have an upward calling. Everything you do is building dividends for

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eternity, but blessings for here, underneath heaven, you know, for earth. When you respond

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to him, you will be blessed. Peter says this in second Peter chapter one verse 10. He says,

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therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. For if you

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do these things, you will never stumble. You know, if we realize how important that calling

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that God has on our lives is, the decisions we make down here are always weighed against eternity.

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Not for salvation, but for now, if I engaged in this lifestyle for a season,

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what am I losing from heaven's standpoint? What am I losing in terms of not going to heaven,

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but in terms of the rewards, in terms of the legacy, in terms of the testimony for Jesus Christ.

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That's why it's so important for us to be aligned with our calling in heaven, the upward call.

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And so this is why I'm making a big deal out of this is because once you know that

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and you realize that we are called to be in the household of God, then it's important for

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us to really embrace that and live in it. Amen. Okay, let's move on.

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Still in verse one, but that's the last stop. Consider the apostle and high priest

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of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him, who appointed him,

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as Moses also was faithful in all his house. For this one, meaning Christ,

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has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who built the house

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has more honor than the house. Verse four, for every house is built by someone,

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but he who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant

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for a testimony of those who which would be spoken afterwards, but Christ as a son

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over his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing

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of the hope firm to the end. So here we see that the Spirit wants us to make a connection between

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Moses and Jesus. Now, Moses was given a blueprint for the household of God, wasn't he? Remember the

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Lord led him up on Mount Sinai after they escaped Egypt and there they were in the Sinai Peninsula

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and he was up on Mount Sinai and he began to receive the plans God has. And it was a

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household plan. It wasn't just someday you're going to, you know, make these clothing for the high

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priest and someday you're going to make a tabernacle and carry it on poles. And I mean, that was the

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ark and you're going to do all these functional things. It was more than that. It was actually

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the household rules and laws, right? He was laying out the whole social structure,

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who's in charge, who's, you know, guiding my people and all these household rules and regulations,

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you know, and it is important to know the household rules. You know, some of you may have been

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raised in homes that you really didn't have many chores. Mom and dad were pretty lax and,

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you know, and maybe sometimes at least I was that way. It's like, oh yeah, somebody's got to do

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that. Zach, do that. But, you know, but some households runs like machines and very, you know,

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you know, methodical and no scenario is wrong. It's the household rules and regulations,

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once you know that. So the Lord was laying out all these rules and regulations for Moses

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to the point of even exactly what the priest should wear and actually the tabernacle, what

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it should look like, what it should be made of, all these specifics. And we went through all of that

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as we went through Leviticus over the last several months. And then he gave a plan for,

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like I said, the tabernacle, which was actually a foreshadow of a type of structure, the temple,

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that the Lord would one day assign the king to build for him, right? And so as time went on,

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the Lord had given David a vision for what materials to use and so forth. And David was told,

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but you're not the guy because, you know, you are a man of bloodshed, but your son will build it,

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right? And so Solomon was assigned the role to build this temple. Now, God's not going to

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literally live there, okay? He doesn't live in the ark, okay? He doesn't live in a house.

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Nothing can contain him. He contains everything, right? He is above and beyond and bigger. He holds

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all things together as we sang in that song. He's holding all together or something like that. But

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anyway, he holds it all together, right? So he's not going to live there, but he's going to visit

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from time to time. But you know, he chooses to live in you. Isn't that amazing? He lives

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outside of you too. He's not limited to you. Thank God for that. But he chooses to also live in you.

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You're like a mini tabernacle of his, right? That he resides in. So he can live lots of places,

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but he chooses to live in us. So when Solomon was given this tremendous assignment

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of building the temple of God, he said, you know, can you imagine that huge weight to build

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the structure? And so they complete it. You can read about it in 2nd Chronicles 7. And as

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they were praying and thanking the Lord for this tremendous temple, the fire of God came down

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and just consumed all the offerings. The glory of the Lord was so thick they couldn't even

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enter the temple. Do you remember that? And so when Solomon was so humbled and he was really

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just starting off, he was only a few years into his kingdom when he had asked for wisdom,

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he was such a humble king starting off, right? But what's sad is he forgot whose house he was

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building because he built a temple which took seven years, lots of resources, lots of planning.

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But you know how long it took him to build his own house? Any of you know his own palace?

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13, almost double the time. Then he built the house of God. So what started off like,

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oh, you know, just humble, like, you know, fear and trembling became like, all right,

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we're done with that. Now it's time to build my house, right? And we know the story of Solomon,

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how his pride carried him away, his lust, his idolatry, his polygamy, everything, just

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took him away, right? And as a result, he built his palace and he just kept building.

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I think some of us forget whose house we're building because he lost sight of why he was

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given that task. It was to build and to govern God's people. That's the house of God, right?

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But he was building his own kingdom, right? But when he was humble in his days, he wrote

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Psalm 127.1 and it was a song of ascents. The song of ascents, there's 15 of them.

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And only two psalms in all of the psalms were written by Solomon, but this was one of them.

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And it says, a song of ascents, as they would ascend to Jerusalem, because, you know,

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Jerusalem is built so high, no matter what north, south, east, west, you're coming from,

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Jerusalem is always up, okay? It's so high elevation. So the song of ascents was,

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all the pilgrims, when they would come back for the three feasts of Israel, they would come up and as

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they would ascend whatever direction they are coming from, they would just celebrate and sing

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and remember, we're going to the house of God, right? And so Solomon wrote this psalm and he said,

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unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the

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city, the watchman stays awake in vain. And we still use those verses quite often, don't we? When

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we talk about building our home, because really it has to be the Lord who is building it. We could

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put so much effort into our families, but if we're not leading our families to God, we're

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leading them in the wrong direction. I can remember being part of that ministry

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that was a global mission and hearing from these various kids that were from South Korea,

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or at least from their parents were, and their family's whole goal was education, education,

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education, education. And I think that, I mean, that's not a bad priority to have in your home,

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right? I mean, education is important. And so they were teaching their kids,

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you gotta be a doctor, you gotta be a lawyer, you gotta be, you know, whatever. You have to be

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educated. You have to, because then you will be successful. And those aren't bad priorities,

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unless God is a second priority to those goals. And I'll never forget some of those,

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how they decided instead to go on the mission field and leave school or leave the doctorate

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program or leave these things to actually serve on the mission field, and their parents

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literally stopped talking to them, literally almost disowned them, at least from their testimony.

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And it's like, wow, they really started building the wrong palace, didn't they? They really went

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in the wrong direction, building the wrong priorities. But we as families are building

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towards God's purpose. Amen. And so we still read that verse to remind us that it's God's

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palace. It's God's temple that we're building for his purpose. We are the house of God and

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the apostle Paul realized, can you imagine being him? Here's a guy that just wasn't even a

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tremendous speaker according to him and perhaps others too. And how he was a religious zealot,

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and he was judgmental, he was critical, and he was all these things, probably hard to get along with

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the apostle Paul, if you read, you know, different aspects of his personality. Yet when he got saved,

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the Lord used him to do things that no one else could do, right? And as he's, and he's,

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and he was even, even the Jews didn't like him, and he was a very religious Jew. So he was going

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into new areas and everything. And he was seeing a wink of, well, God is doing something like behind

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me. And it's not me, it's God. God is building something. And he was so overwhelmed that he could

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do this. And then how God could build up behind him and backfill what was missing. And he said

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this to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10 to 11. He said, according to the grace of God,

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which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it,

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but let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay

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than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ, the firm foundation, the chief cornerstone.

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I mean, we need to be building upon him. And I know this is to a believer. We've heard that

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message from when we first believed, but it's still so significant to realize that only the Lord is

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level. Only the Lord is a right line with heaven. I love that verse it talks about Zerubbabel,

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the builder of the temple, and his plumb line is lined up. And it's a great picture of when we have

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the right cornerstone, Jesus Christ, we can build on that. And no matter what direction we're going

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in, we are on solid ground, we are level, and we are pointed towards heaven, right? So that's

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the chief cornerstone. And it's so important that Paul even reflects on this and says, you know,

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I wasn't building anything for me. I was building something for the Lord. You know, the Lord

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tells in the Sermon on the Mount, or one of the Sermon on the Mount, sometimes people say those

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Matthew five, six, seven could have been multiple sermons. But, but in there we look at Luke's

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version of this. And he was talking about how building something that lasts that the enemy

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can't tear down. And I love these verses because it reminds us how important it is for us to,

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to come to the Lord, to hear him and to do what he says. And he says, whoever comes to me and

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hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house

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who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock, which is Jesus Christ, of course. And when the

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flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against the house and could not shake it,

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for it was founded on the rock. You know, he's telling us to come to him, you know,

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he's calling us, we come to him, we hear him, and then we don't just hear. You know, the worst is

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don't be a hearer only, but a doer of the word and actually doing the things. And I'll just say,

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as a parent, sometimes doing the right thing wasn't always easy because we, we, we don't,

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we, we want to, in a sense, nurture our children's feelings over God's purpose for them. Have you

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don't want to go to life group or a youth group? Oh, I don't want to go there. Nobody likes me there.

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You're going, you're going. One guy one time said to me, he is funny because I was the youth pastor

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at our old church. And I can remember getting up saying, you know, it's important for your kids

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to go to youth group. And suddenly this, this spirit of authority just overpowered me.

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And I just said, you know what you parents don't give your kids a choice. You're the parent,

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make them go, make them go. And to me, it's like, it's elementary, right? Of course, right. But you

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know, this one guy who heard me and his kids were, you know, there sometimes not the others,

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and they were always fighting with them to get out the door and you know, and he said, when I

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said that, he told me this years later, believe it or not, when I saw him at this pastor's

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conference, he said, well, you said that it was like a light bulb. I suddenly realized,

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and I turned to my wife, I said, yeah, we are the parents. Like, you know, like, we don't have

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to let them decide. We decide. We know what's best for them. They don't. Right. And you know,

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what's so cool about that story is he started making them come, of course, within two or

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three times. There was no longer a debate. They were going. That's it. You don't talk about it.

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Don't discuss it. You're going. Right. And they continuously went and this guy was an amazing

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guitar player. He actually majored it in California in school and he was a musician. He was a songwriter.

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He ended up being the children's coordinator of music and had three squads of youth worship teams

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in that youth group. And he led it all. All because I just got up there and said, make them go. That's

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the fewest words of a sermon that you can ever have. Make them go. What is that? Three. Three words.

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And that really impacted him. And he was so grateful from then on. And it was so funny

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because you think it's such a nothing. It's common sense. But you know, sometimes we have to

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remember that we are the stewards of our children for on behalf of God. And it's not just about

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children. It's about all of our relationships. Right. We are stewards of those relationships.

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You know, we can't take them for granted. We need to love people on behalf of God because

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he loves them. Right. And so this is the idea. You know, we are the house of God and

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and the Lord is going to build your house, my house, his house with quality, with purpose,

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with with glory. Joe and I live just on the northeast side still of Doylestown. We tried

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a few times and move over here and it didn't work out. Bidding wars and things like that, you know,

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some of you can relate. But so but sometimes we go from our house down to like peddlers village. You

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ever been and New Hope area just, you know, so like nice and scenic. And we drive through these

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few roads and you're coming across like just wow, look at that house. But one sign you see

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sometimes and it's a sign it's it's the Zavida builders. Okay. And some of you who are from

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over here might not know that sign and I'm not here. This is no promotion for Zavida homes.

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I'm just telling you that much. But I just want to give a real practical example. So and whenever

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you drive by a Zavida home sign, you know, something spectacular is going to be built there.

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Something magnificent. Okay, from a worldly perspective, right. So we drove by these few

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lots with these signs for years, nothing built yet. You're like, well, something's going to

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be built there eventually, right. And so recently we drove down that road and that next slide shows

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the house. Okay, that's not a string of townhomes. Okay, that's what it looks like to me. That's one

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house and it doesn't even incorporate all of it. The camera couldn't get it all in. And then as

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you drive around, you see in the back, there's like two or three more structures on the other

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side of the courtyard, which has eight to 12 garages, which probably fit other families that

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live above that. I don't know. But this is like, you know, the servants quarters. I don't know.

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But like, you're like, what? You know, I knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to

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happen because the sign is there. I have just for kicks and giggles. I have a couple more slides.

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The next one is another Zavida home. That looks like Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney, okay. Just waiting

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for the fireworks above it. The castle, right. And then there's one more there. So these are just,

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yeah, a Zavida home. So again, if they ever watch this, like, why is that guy promoting our houses?

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But thank you. But I'm not. But the point is to me, that sign means quality, means earthly glory,

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means luxury, means riches, you know, it means wealth. It's always the most pristine land.

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But how much more is God's label upon you? His, you belong to him. You are his house. You might

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not see it built yet. You might say, what kind of house is this? You know, so many things aren't

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luxurious or prosperous looking to others. So many things still seem out of line. There's still

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so much strife and disagreement, perhaps in my home or even in my life. I'm not feeling very

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Zavida-ish right now, okay. But you know what? The Lord is building something in you that you

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haven't seen yet, but you're going to see it someday. It's a magnificent house that he's

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building. And you're just a part of it. You're just a part of it. You don't have to be all that

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on the hill by yourself, because no one is. In fact, I promise you the people that live in those

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homes, unless they're being built in the house of God, they're going to either be miserable

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this side of heaven or on the other side of life. Because if you don't have the chief master

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builder in your life, building his house in your life, you're missing the whole purpose.

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Imagine just living in this prosperous, wealthy house and being miserable. And you can't get

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happy. You can't find joy because nothing is going to give you joy like the Lord Jesus.

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They can't have things from heaven because they haven't pushed through yet. They haven't

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laid hold of the upward call of God. They haven't received that heavenly calling. They don't know.

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They still think it's down here. And I'm not putting rich people down at all because you know

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what? The kingdom uses wealth, filthy mammon on earth to win friends and influence enemies,

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even in heaven, right? He can use it all. So, you know, in fact, if you know some people that

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owns the meat of homes, invite them in, we'll get them saved. And we'll really

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blow, you know, just bring the kingdom all around the world, right? So we're not against wealth,

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but it's not wealth that brings joy, happiness, and peace. It's the kingdom of God. Amen.

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I love what Jesus said just before he departed. He was talking to his disciples and you know,

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he started to see him going away and you know, but you'll find me eventually and I'm like,

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what is this? You know, he is our life. Imagine this, the person you followed

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for three and a half years who to you was your identity. Like the fact that you were a friend

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of Jesus, that you traveled with Jesus, that you served on behalf of Jesus,

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that was the only identity that mattered to you, right? Well, that's still the case today.

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He is our identity, right? And then they said, you know, where can we go? You have the words of life.

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I have no life apart from you, Jesus. So when he's talking about leaving,

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they were pretty broken up, okay? But you say, no, take it easy. I'm building something in you.

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I'm preparing you for that place. And I'm preparing that place for you. And he said this,

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it's so beautiful in John chapter 14 verses two and three. And my father's house are many mansions.

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If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.

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And I love the put in there that he's preparing us for the place, isn't he?

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And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself

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that where I am there, you may be also. Amen. As the worship team comes up,

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I just want to say, you know, what house is the Lord building in your life? Are you letting him

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knock out walls? You know, sometimes the Lord knows the best floor plan. Okay. And we might say,

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I don't want to tear that down. I don't want, he knows. And perhaps it's time to just hand him the

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hammer. Say, Lord, have at it. Tear down the walls that don't belong there. Lord God,

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just take out the old stuff that reeks of the old stench of the old mold and the mildew,

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the things that are just dirty, Lord God. Just demo. Demo my life. If that's what I need, Lord God,

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bring in the dumpster and start demoing. Okay. And just let him do it. Just say, Lord,

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what am I hanging on to? You know, I feel bad. Sometimes I speak, you know, quite often to

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hoarders and, and so forth. And they're hanging on to things that, you know, they know deep down,

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no one cares about after they go home with the Lord. It's, it's not going to matter to anyone,

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you know? It's not, they'd rather hold on to things than let the room be open for people to

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actually be there. You know, people are what's important, you know? And so maybe we have to

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ask the Lord, Lord, get rid of this stuff. It's time to clean house, Lord. I want a clean house

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so I can allow you to move fully and vibrantly through my life, Lord God. I just want you to

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demo and clean out. But most of all, Lord God, I know that you have the best insight into design.

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Lord God, design my house that would most glorify you, Lord God. You know, you color my life,

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Lord God. You bring the brightness into my life, Lord God. You bring in the, the, the, the, the,

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the lines and the, and the form that my life should look like, Lord God, because I obviously

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at times make a mess of my own life. And Lord, I just need you to come in and decorate me,

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Lord God. Decorate me with your goodness. Decorate me, Lord, with your gifts and the

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fruit of the Spirit, Lord God. I just want you to come in and have at my household, Lord God,

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my heart, Lord God. I want you to just clean me out so I can truly be a tabernacle, a tent,

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a temple for your Holy Spirit. So Father God, we ask you, Lord, today,

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as we sing this last song, Lord God, and just remember how important it is, Lord,

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for us to be aligned with our heavenly call. To never forget, Lord God, that we belong to your

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household. We can never go too far away to another land, to another place that, Lord God, we still

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don't belong to your household because your calling and your gifts are irrevocable, Lord God. May we

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never forget whose household we belong to, whose family we belong to, Lord God. And Lord,

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we ask you to just clean us out, to use our house, your house. May it be your house

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that you live in, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand and let's give the Lord a round of applause.

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God bless you guys.

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Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word. Don't

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forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

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Be blessed and have a great day!