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Mark Wheeler
Isaiah 28:16
06/09/2024
Biblical Pictures? – “Buildings”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
Welcome to Worship, today, friends!
Last Sunday we had such a fun time sharing stories and learning history about Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church! We listened to 117 years of building constructions and, even more important, building uses! 12-step groups, Flannel Lady, District 81 Religious Studies Classes, Boy Scouts, TOPS, Fresh Start Mental Health Group, Spokane Carvers Association, other churches, Russian Messianic Jewish Torah Study Group, If You Could Save Just One … what’s next?
We are in a new sermon Series through June and July: a Series on Word-Pictures in the Bible – descriptions of God, ideas about God’s Church, images of what it means to belong to God, and depictions of how we demonstrate having been created Imago Dei!
At the very center of the Christian faith is the belief that there is no one like God! God is not a creature, God is the Creator!! Isaiah 6:1 calls Him “High and lifted up”! And Philippians tells us that this One who is above all, better than all, nothing like any other, stooped down to make Himself known to us finite and sinful creatures!
John Calvin loved to describe God as a “nurse who bends low to lisp to a newborn.”
God demonstrates this aspect of His nature every time the Bible uses metaphors to convey His Message of Good News in a way we can understand. These metaphors help us understand God and live like we believe what we say we believe!
Today we look at the biblical metaphor of Architecture! I love looking at buildings – ancient buildings from 1,000 years ago, 100-year old downtown storefronts, Browne’s Addition mansions, Sears’ Craftsman Houses, old churches, new churches, cave-dwellings, I kinda just love admiring architectural styles from different cultures and eras.
Who here has stood at the base of the Space Needle in Seattle, in wonder of its magnificence? Who has been to the top? Right? Cozy mountain cabins or cottages at the lake whisper warm welcomes. Well-loved family homes make memories. Buildings seem to carry their own soul – an empty sanctuary feels haunted, old basements smell musty, new construction hollers of hope. Am I alone here? We all feel this … at least a little … right?
But when God builds a House, He declares His covenant faithfulness to His people! He dwells with His people!
In II Samuel, King David wanted to build a Temple to God – but God said, No. Solomon finally did build a Temple – majestic and amazing, and God said, “Can God fit in your building? No, but I will build you a House!” I think He was pointing to King David’s-1,000-year-later-relative King Jesus. Jesus told Peter and the other disciples, “Upon this Rock of faith I will build My Church!” (Peter had just stated, “You, Jesus, are the Christ, the Son of thew living God!”)
The biblical word-picture of Buildings gives us a glimpse of the glory of God and our place in His presence!
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Pastor Kathy calls us to worship, today, from Psalm 18:
3-6 And our Prelude of Praise and Worship ––– #43 … A Mighty Fortress Is Our God –
7 Good morning Friends! Welcome to worship at Lidgerwood!! Shalom Aleichem! May the PEACE of Christ be with you!
Welcome, friends, from around the world, to this worshipping community!
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
8 This morning our Chancel Choir leads us in worship with their penultimate Choral Anthem: “He Lifts Me Up”
9 Children’s Message
10 Pastor opens our Prayer time in Confession and Thanksgiving
11 Gloria Patri
12-15 Praises, thanksgivings, adorations, concerns and prays [The Lord’s Prayer]
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17-21 Song of Devotion and Preparation to receive God’s Word – #709 – O Christ the Great Foundation –
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Any architect will confirm that the most important part of a building is not its beautiful façade or high-pitched pinnacles. The most important part of a building is its mostly unseen foundation. When the foundation is faulty the building leans (think the tower in Pisa, Italy) or worse, it topples and tumbles.
In the ancient world, the foundation was built into the building’s cornerstone! Everything leaned into that cornerstone to secure the structure’s stability.
Listen to these words of God spoken through the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah to a spiritually unstable and insecure people – Isaiah 28:16 …. —-
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16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.”
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There’s a fundamental promise and a guarantee in this passage.
The Israelites have rejected their Lord, but God has not rejected His people! He Himself sends the Cornerstone, Zechariah 10 says, to gather His people and redeem His House! Jesus continues this metaphor in a multitude of ways – He warns the chief priests that if they reject Him and don’t believe, they would “stumble over the Cornerstone and be crushed.” His tells parables about building our lives on the sure foundation of Jesus Himself and that everything else is “sinking sand”.
Matthew and I Peter and Ephesians all describe the people of God as “living stones” making up the “House of the Lord”, the “Rock on which the Church us built”. As Lidgerwood leans into the Ezra 3 image of rebuilding the Temple into what God calls us to be, this is what we’re talking about – not just the building that Lidgerwood Church meets in – but the people who ARE that Church!
In I Corinthians when Paul encourages these Greek believers who are arguing with each other about whether Peter or Apollos was the preferred preacher, Paul says, “We are ALL fellow workers building on the foundation of Jesus Christ!”
Rev. Thomas Myrick, pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church of Bethesda, MD, uses the Three Little Pigs analogy – are we “preaching and teaching [with] gold, silver, and precious stones, or is the quality of wood, hay, and straw?” He says that Paul is asking whether the Church workers “trust the Master’s means, or [are they] wise in their own eyes?” Building on the Foundation which is faith in Jesus Christ, relying on the Bible as the authoritative Word of God, builds a Church with lasting legacy and community influence! We can be that kind of Church!
And the Bible is clear, in the Old Testament Ezra and Nehemiah’s telling of the reconstruction of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and in the New Testament Gospels and History and Epistles, Christ calls every single believer to be built up in the most holy faith and to build one another up into the likeness of God in life and belief!
How we act, what we say, where we go, all impact the strength and integrity of the building of the Church of Jesus Christ!
The Good News here is that the Foundation is sure and confident! And we stand on that Foundation!
This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.”
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Jesus said, “On this Rock I will build My Church – and the gates of hades will not stand against it!” We are in the process of being built into God’s perfect blueprint plans!
And the Apostle John got a peek at the finished building project in Revelation 21. John tells us he saw, “the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband” (this is another word picture we’ll get into next week).
He says, “Glory is all around, and the city has no need for the sun or the moon, for the glory of God gives it Light, and its lamp is the ‘Lamb of God’” (another metaphor we’ll get to in two weeks).
The purpose of the Temple was originally to demonstrate God’s presence with His people! The Truth is that God lives with us, in us, among us – and the Church sings and shouts our praises!
26 Graduates
27 Kayden Allen
28 Gabe Benedetti
29 Julie Chernak
30 Braden Green
31 Riley Jane Halvorsen
32 Roxy O’Neil McBurns
33 Tawnee McGee
34 Aida Tursunbek-Wheeler
35 Andrew Wheeler
36 Graduates
Our children are God’s children. No matter where they go or how old they are, they are in God’s care. And He has great purpose for them in this life. Let us pray for our graduates to know God’s love and care for them.
As we watch our graduates walk across the stage to receive their diploma, we want to take a moment to thank You, Lord, for keeping them safe and guiding them to this point.
Lord, touch them now with wisdom to be able to handle the next stages
of their lives in a way that will be pleasing to You, and that will set
them on a path of living a life that will be a blessing to others. Through Christ, our Foundation, we pray. Amen.
37 Receive our tithes and offerings as symbols of our very lives and livelihood, given as response to Your life given for us! Bless it, and by it bless the world around us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Offering (4449 N Nevada St., Spokane, WA, 99207; or click HERE; or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
38-39 Expedition Song #670 – Rise Up, O Saints of God –
40 Benediction:
May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
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Announcements
- Father’s Day
- Spokane Indians Baseball
- Ezra 3 Initiative –
- Furnace Fundraiser
Resources:
Myrick, Thomas K.; “Architectural Metaphors”; TableTalk; June 2019; Pp. 12-14.
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