Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 2 "Building the House"
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Battle
Become Active
Build
Battle
God places you in his church to fight battles both external and internal.
To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
Psalm 68:1-10
King David knew battles both external and internal. He needed to be continually connected God and his people to overcome in the midst of these battles.
Externally (After defeating Goliath, David needed the army of Israel to defeat the Philistines. On the run from Saul at work, he needed Jonathan to survive).
Internally (After becoming a successful, victorious king, David needed the prophet Nathan to help him overcome his battles with lust, adultery, deception and murder as seen in the case with Bathsheba. He needed the wise woman of Tekoa to deal with family issues when, because of the discipline of God, his family looked like it was falling apart (reference II Samuel 11-19 for David’s failed response with Amnon and Tamar; the following judgment and being on the run from his son Absalom).
“Whether we like having alone time or not, we all need community. In fact, engaging positively with people in our social support network correlates with a number of desirable outcomes. Community involvement can be associated with mental health and cognitive resilience, reduction of chronic pain, lower blood pressure, and improved cardiovascular health. Isolation, on the other hand, can negatively affect our well being.”
-Dr. Caroline Leaf, Think Learn, Succeed: Understanding and Using Your Mind to Thrive at School, the Workplace and Life
With the proliferation and ubiquitous nature of social media, we feel like we’re connecting, but we’re still alone. The ministry of presence with God and his church is important. God sets the solitary, the lonely, in a home, in a family. Don’t voluntarily live in a parched land.
Become Active
God places you in his church to get active to remain spiritually, mentally and emotionally healthy.
One of the reasons David fell into sin is that he became inactive. Pride began to creep into his heart telling him he now deserved things that God had proclaimed forbidden.
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
2 Samuel 11:1-3
Build
God places you in his church to become a disciple who will work his field and build for the glory of his eternal Kingdom.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Matthew 20:1-16
No matter where you began or when you were called, God’s same saving grace is available for you today. Repent of solitary, selfish living. Be healed in reconciliation with God. Come to the cross to receive God’s forgiveness through Christ’s sacrificial death for your sins, burial and resurrection to eternal life. Be baptized and deployed with God’s people to fight your battles, become active as a disciple and build God’s Kingdom.
Second City Church - Back to Church Sunday 2019 - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019