Build It: Part 1, Day 5

Matthew‬ 16‬:13‬-19‬ NKJV‬‬

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

I Chronicles‬ 28‬:10‬-11‬ NKJV‬‬

“Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.” Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the vestibule, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers, its inner chambers, and the place of the mercy seat;”

I Kings‬ 6‬:1‬ NKJV

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.

What is the price to pay for housing the glory?

There has to be an honoring, respect and value toward those who have paved the way for us to be here.

When Solomon became king, and it was his time to build the temple for the Lord, he didn’t build it out of his own mind or will. He built it according to what the Lord had shown his father David. He built it with the supplies and the offerings given by his father and the people of Israel.

Yes, there was a passing of the baton, but in the passing, there was an honor and respect for those who had paved a way for them to accomplish such a great task. Church none of us would be here today if it were not for someone else.

That is one of the reasons why the glory falls here so powerfully. We have a very young church with many new believers. However, we also do our best to show honor and respect to those who have come before us.

There has to be a commitment to sacrificial giving.

One of the reasons why this church continues to see such a manifestation of God’s glory here is because of the sacrificial giving every week. Many people and even pastor of churches never put this together. If the church ever shuts its hands on the earth the heavens become brass over them. Every major move of God in the Bible was preceded by or accompanied with sacrificial giving.

Many times, we hear people say things like there is no glory in the church because the church isn’t praying enough. That can definitely be part of the problem. But I know of places who have all night prayer meetings weekly and have no glory. But go and receive an offering in that place and you will truly see the heart of the people. Jesus didn’t say where your prayers are there your heart will be also. He said where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

David is on his way to the grave. He is not going to live long enough to even see the temple built. However, the Bible says that David has prepared with all his might to give to the house of the Lord. David himself, out of his own treasury, gave an offing of 6 billion dollars plus. Then he got up and announced his son Solomon as the king and received another offering from the leaders of Israel in the amount of 3.8 billion dollars.

All of this doesn’t include what was sacrificed on the day they dedicated the temple. This is what they gave before the construction of the temple. Beloved, that’s why I love this place so much! At ALC we are a people that will give sacrifices to the kingdom and the work of the Lord. Therefore, every week we get to come in this house and see God move powerfully and His glory fall.

There has to be a holy embracing and a dogmatic awareness of kingdom order.

David tells Solomon, “When I die, I want you to deal with a few people for me. First, remove Abiathar from being priest.” This will do two things; it will fulfill the word of the Lord that was spoken concerning the house of Eli. Abiathar being priest was out of order because God had already pronounced their linage of priesthood was done.

Secondly, Abiathar tried to raise up the wrong person as king. He had heard David say that the Lord wanted Solomon as king, but he still tried to raise up someone else because it was what he wanted. Which speaks a lot to the time we have been experiencing in the kingdom for 20 years now. Very seldom was the Lord consulted over who was supposed to be leading in the kingdom. Therefore, we have houses being led by Abiathars instead of Zadoks.

The second person he wanted him to deal with was Joab. He was the commander of David’s army, but he couldn’t get over the past and forgive. Therefore, he killed two of Israel’s commanders out of rage and unforgiveness. The Bible says that he killed two men that were more righteous than him. In other words, he acted in a vindictive and malicious way towards men who were better than he was.

We see the other part of this order acted out when it’s time to build the temple. Solomon builds the temple according to what the Lord had shown David. In other words, houses of glory are places that are built and run by the leading of His Spirit and nothing else. That means if God said, “Do it,” we do it. If God says, “Don’t do it,” then we don’t do it.

Without a mind to obey the Lord like this, every attempt to see His glory will ultimately fail. If we want His glory, we have to do it His way! When Apostle first became the pastor of this church, there were all kinds of bylaws and nonsense that were put in place to make man feel good, while hindering what God wanted to do.

Little by little, we kept removing these things and putting other things in place to facilitate growth and make God feel good regardless of what man felt like. And look what God has done as we embraced kingdom order and got rid of everything else that hindered kingdom order.

It’s now 12 years later, and we can see how this church is moving and embracing the order of the kingdom. Not the order of a denomination and not the order of small-minded church people who wanted to run the place. Now we are able to accomplish things that we never thought would be possible, because we embraced His order, and the glory is here.

Let’s pray together…