Cross Creek Community Church ~ Pastor Dave Martin ~ Jan 14, 2007
Jesus Builds His Church
Ezra 1-6
Part 2 of 3
The “church” is not a building but people!
Matthew 16:18b “…I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it”. ~ Jesus (NLT)
As a Church we must: EXALT – EVANGELIZE – EQUIP - ELEVATE
Twelve Building Principles…
1. Vision
God reveals His plans to the hearts of His servants.
Ezra 1:5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites--everyone whose heart God had moved--prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
Acts 13:2, 20:22; Prov 29:18; Neh 2:12; Phil 2:13; etc
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The nation of Israel was in Babylonian captivity… now under the rule of the Persians (King Cyrus) |
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God moved the kings heart 1:1 then the hearts of His people – those who God prompted to return. |
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I’m sure some Jews in Babylon thought going back to Jerusalem was too difficult, fearful, unrealistic… |
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God ALWAYS lays a burden / vision upon an individual /group, to get involved with His work. |
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I’ve been told repeatedly by pastors – “God can’t work in this area any more – too pagan, too spiritually dead, cold, steeped in false salvation based on works, darkness, the enemy has taken over NE Pa. |
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Over a short period of time God worked in major ways in my heart… Why can’t God do a great work? |
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Why can’t we see revival? Why can’t we see souls getting saved? God hasn’t changed – we have! |
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God stirred deep in my soul… we can see His mighty hand move powerfully, if we surrender to Him! |
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I told God I would do anything He wants – but I won’t be a Pastor… I struggled with His call on my life. |
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Some weeks later, I surrendered to anything He wants me to do… Hence the birth of Cross Creek! |
VISION - Prov 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish…
(Where’s there no revelation – people cast off restraint)
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Principle one is VISION – God reveals His plans to the hearts of His servants… |
2. People
God draws people and prompts them to get involved.
Ezra 2:1-2 Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town… v2b The list of the men of the people of Israel:…
Ezra 2:68a “… they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem…”
John 12:32; Acts 4:4; Eph 4:16; Rom 1:11-12; etc
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The Lord gives us a list of those who left Babylon and traveled to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. |
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It was an 800 mile journey taking around 4 months to accomplish… a rough journey, filled with difficulties, uncertainties, some of the Jewish captives opted out in returning to their homeland… |
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But many of them prompted by God made that commitment and returned… they “arrived” – being in the dead center of God’s perfect will. This produces spiritual growth, contentment, peace, joy, etc, etc, etc! |
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God always uses people to accomplish His purposes – from Adam to you & me today… wants YOU |
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He uses ordinary people – like Moses, David, Peter, Andrew… you and me today! |
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Many of us here at Cross Creek have been on a perilous journey of life too… some of you have been broken… used up, defeated, discouraged, disappointed… welcome to Cross Creek, we’re the island of broken toys! A hospital for sinners! A place to heal, mend up the hurting wounds, a place to be encouraged & helped. |
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Folks are here from every strata of life… ages, career’s, financially, educationally – God has brought U. |
Why families connect with a church: #2reason “ministry to youth”. The number-one consideration is #1 “preaching”. (Group Publishing research) Christianity Today, October 20, 1989 , p. 43
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Only eternity will reveal how many souls have been saved over the past few years… |
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Cross Creek has grown 39% every year for the past 7 years of our existence… growing for a reason! |
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Throughout scripture whenever the Lord is doing a great work… Satan is not too far behind… He’s busy trying to sow tares among the wheat… trying to divide, accuse, deceive… The devil appears as an angel of light or he can be a wolf in sheep’s clothing… We must stay spiritually keen & wise. |
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Because we’re growing, we must stay ahead of the curve and plan future building expansion… |
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Once a church reaches 80% capacity it becomes strangulated and slows down growth… our early 8am service has around 120 and our 10:30am 240 which we accommodate by setting up about 30 extra chairs and sending approx 40-50 children straight to Jr church for the entire service. We’ve been praying about changing the 8am service to 9am and running SS & Jr church concurrent with both services in order to balance out the two services better… |
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Remember last weeks message – Exalt – Evangelize – Equip – Elevate = that is our purpose. |
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As we faithfully fulfill our Biblical purpose, the Lord will bless and grow us spiritually & physically -Acts 2 |
I Read a story about a rather old fashioned yet sophisticated lady, who was planning a couple of weeks vacation in Florida. She also was quite delicate and elegant with her language. She wrote a letter to a particular campground and asked for reservations. She wanted to make sure the campground was fully equipped but didn’t know quite how to ask about the “toilet” facilities. She just couldn’t bring herself to write the word “toilet” in her letter. After much deliberation, she finally came up with the old fashioned term “Bathroom Commode,” but when she wrote that down, she still thought she was being too forward. So she started all over again; rewrote the entire letter and referred to the “Bathroom Commode” simply as the “B.C.”. Does the campground have its own “B.C.?” is what she actually wrote.
Well, the campground owner wasn’t old fashioned at all, and when he got the letter, he couldn’t figure out what the lady was talking about. That “B.C.” really stumped him. After worrying about it for several days, he showed the letter to other campers, but they couldn’t figure out what the lady meant either. The campground owner finally came to the conclusion that the lady was and must be asking about the location of the local Baptist Church. So he sat down and wrote the following reply: “Dear Madam: I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take pleasure of informing in that the “B.C.” is located nine miles north of the camp site and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along, and make a day of it..... They usually arrive early and stay late. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now, there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats.....They plan to hold the supper in the middle of the B.C., so everyone can watch and talk about this great event.....I would like to say it pains me very much, not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely not for lack of desire on my part....As we grow older, it seems to be more and more of an effort, particularly in cold weather..... If you decide to come down to the campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go ... sit with you ... and introduce you to all the other folks. ... This is really a very friendly community.
PEOPLE - Acts 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
3. Finances
People gave in accordance with their ability (God’s blessings).
Ezra 2:68b-69 68 When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 drachmas of gold, 5,000 minas of silver and 100 priestly garments.
Luke 21:1-4; 2Co 8:3,12; 9:7; Ex 36:3; Mal 3:8-10; Luke 6:38; etc
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The vision of returning to Jerusalem was set in their hearts… God brought the people to homeland… |
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Then the Lord prompted the people to give financially toward the rebuilding project… according to each man’s ability they gave… everyone gave what they could, whether little or much… God gave increase |
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They gave large amounts of money and material plus labor to accomplish God’s awesome purpose |
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We began renting this facility for $500 / month in Dec 1999… we also began a building fund campaign |
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Last week I spoke of the man from Texas who gave us a $50 donation and “kicked it off” – cool, huh? |
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Fervently we began to pray about purchasing this church property from the Free Methodist Conference |
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For the first year or so I didn’t take a salary but we were able to slowly begin to raise finances… |
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From Aug 99–Dec 99 (5mo) our average weekly offerings were $633 with an average attendance of 35 |
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As you can imagine, as the attendance grew 39% per year and our offerings grew by 38% each year… |
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At the end of Oct of 2006 our average weekly offerings was $5022 & average attendance of 315 + Wed |
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People gave from the blessing that God gave them… cheerfully, willingly in faith – it’s all from Him |
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PTL – we currently have over $200,000 in our building fund… but it’ll go fast – I encourage you to give! |
FINANCES - Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.“
4. Unity
God produces one accord among His people.
Ezra 3:1 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.
Acts 4:32; 1Co 1:10; Rom 15:5-6; Jn 17:11; Rom 12:5; 1Pet 3:8; Zep 3:9; etc
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According to Ezra chapter 2, God brought 49,897 people back to Jerusalem… assembled as one man |
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What an encouragement in being around people of like faith and mindset… walking humbly before God |
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The people were all tuned to the same frequency, all on the same TEAM, fighting the same enemy. |
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Their hearts were united in vision and purpose… unified together to accomplish the goal. T.E.A.M. |
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Renting, Cross Creekers began praying and giving in the hope of someday purchasing these facilities… |
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The large assembly church next to us was aggressively trying to purchase it also… |
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We felt like little David competing against a large Goliath – 60 people against 300 – we felt out gunned! |
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But God had His plan and His plan will stand…We were unified then & now. |
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Must always be unified – whenever there is disunity there is SIN. PRIDE destroys/humility builds. |
Unity and Faith is of God… Disunity and disbelief is from the enemy…
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In faith we voted unanimous to buy this property when we had no money! |
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In faith we voted unanimous to purchase a parcel of land out front from UGI Corp! |
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In faith we voted unanimous to purchase Mary’s Place consisting of 6 acres & a ranch home! |
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In faith we voted unanimous to build new facilities costing between $400 and $600,000 dollars! |
Business meetings should be a time of worship experiencing the very presence of God.
There are four main bones in every organization.
The wish-bones: Wishing somebody would do something about the problem.
The jaw-bones: Doing all the talking but very little else. (Sometimes very smoooooth talking)
The knuckle-bones: Those who knock everything. (Natural pessimist… we can’t…)
The back-bones: Those who carry the brunt of the load and do most of the work.
UNITY - 1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
5. Faith
People trusted & obeyed God in spite of their fear.
Ezra 3:3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices.
2Co 5:7; Mt 17:20; Ps 27:1; Heb 10:23; Prov 3:5-6; Heb 11:6; etc
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Before the construction on the temple started they built the altar of sacrifice by faith… knowing people would be watching them… they were fearful but they remained committed to the vision and built. |
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The people trusted and obeyed God in spite of trembling inside. Ever been like that - a scary situation? |
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In 2000 we prayed and prayed and prayed to buy this building… God heard and answered our prayer… |
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I remember when 19 members of Cross Creek met, prayer, voted unanimous to purchase 2 ½ acres, parsonage & church for $240,000. BUT, NO WAY could we afford a $1911.31 monthly mortgage payment – What a step of faith and obedience in spite of our fear! In fact the New York Conference of the Free Methodist even carried the financing! (interest money to missions) |
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Since than we have completed extensive renovations with... 49 new windows replaced... new insulation roof... new lighting, new carpeting & tile throughout... new modern kitchen... air conditioning throughout... new electrical panel and service entrance, emergency lighting... sound loft with lots of A/V equipment... new bathrooms downstairs & recently upstairs too... pews upholstered and new drapes, walls opened up, new roof on the youth center... much fill brought in and grading out front... all the new gravel parking lots able to accommodate over 200 cars... |
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By faith June 18, 2004 we purchased UGI property and Sept 9, 2005 purchased “Mary’s place” with six acres... Extensive work, money, material went into refurbishing everything you currently see – thank you! In 2006 we built twin pavilions with water, electric and bonfire pit, serving counters & picnic tables, winding paths wrap their way through various nature trails! |
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By faith we’ve seen the Spirit of God move in the hearts of people… salvation/growth/holiness |
Slide 14 – Original purchase & plot layout + UGI land
Slide 15 – “Mary’s Place” – Land swap / minor sub-division (Marked Red & Blue)
FAITH - Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
6. Planning
Necessary preparations were made for the project.
Ezra 3:6-7 6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, though the foundation of the LORD's temple had not yet been laid. 7 Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
Prov 19:21; 2Kings 12:11-12; 2Chron 24:12-13; Luke 14:28; Jam 4:17; etc
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We see the necessary preparations made for this great undertaking in Jerusalem… before the foundations were laid they enlisted masons, carpenters and the best suppliers of timber from Lebanon |
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We too are getting closer to the reality of a new building connected to this one. Architects, Engineers, Surveyors, heating/Air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, foundation, elevations, sewer, water, suppliers, various contractors, permits, permits, permits – it’s all coming together. |
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We’re working with some great people bringing things together here in Kingston Township. |
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We will be having an actual ground breaking ceremony as we move closer – shooting for a spring start. |
Slide 17 – Rear Elevations
Slide 18 - Driveway Side Elevations
Slide 19 - Side View
Slide 20 - Overall Plan
Slide 21 - Upper Level
Slide 22 - Lower Level
Slide 23 - Carverton Road View
PLANNING - Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
God wants to use you…
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Vision – People – Finances – Unity – Faith – Planning |
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Next week we will see the final six building principles from God’s Word. |
William Carey said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”
Cross Creek is a GREAT Church because we have GREAT people who serve a GREAT God!
Let’s Pray