TV 1768 | I Will Build My Church Conclusion

You know, there's so many people out there, there are many people out there who just have a very shallow idea of salvation. Well, just believe in Jesus, accept Him. I'll tell you, until we bow to Him as Lord and hand our lives over to Him, we're still lost. Now, I thank God that we don't suddenly jump from being what we are to what we will be. That's a process, undoubtedly. God goes to work on our lives, and He wants us to cooperate with that. But I mean, the whole idea that I could come to Him as Savior and not come to Him as Lord? Give me a break. You know, I recall from time to time a song that we sang when I was growing up, and a very simple chorus, Lord of all, and it's Lord of all, Lord of all, Christ must be Lord of all. Lord of all or not Lord at all. Christ must be Lord of all, very simple chorus. I tell you, is He Lord, is He worthy? Is He worthy of everything we could possibly give Him? Is He worthy of our lives? Is there something else that's more valuable? You want to cling to this and not Him? I want what He wants, and I want to be somebody He could live through. We don't all have the same gifts, but we all got gifts. Jesus wants to live in us, and I pray coming into this meeting that God will just take these simple thoughts and do what He will with them. I thank God that I'm weak, because my brain is scattered sometimes. Well, maybe all the time, I don't know, but I serve somebody who is able and willing to finish what He started, and the God of all gods is the one who is behind it all. Oh, praise God, to be part of that, that's ... Anyway, He said, I will build, is the next word, the word build. Now that sort of tells me, and there's no sort of, it tells me that this is a process.

If He's going to work in us till the day of Jesus Christ, then He's still working. He's still working on me, like the chorus, to make me what I ought to be, and so forth. I thank God that He is working on me, because He's ... Boy, I keep running into me. I look in the mirror and say, where did that guy come from? What in the world is that about? I'm so thankful that He is patient, He is loving, He knew what He was getting into, and there's not one of us that can come and say, oh, I just don't qualify. I've got to figure it out. I've got to do this. We just, oh, we let the devil talk us out of the simplicity of just saying, Lord, here is my life. I have put it into your hands, and I don't have to get it all right. I want to have a heart that wants to get it right, but you're not waiting till I get it all perfect before you love me. You love me as I am, but that love reaches out to change me into what you want me to be. I can come and not just obsess, oh God, did I do it right? Am I getting it right? Just be who we are right now, but with a heart that says, Lord, I just want you, and I'm trusting you to teach me right now how to be the person you want me to be. That's it. And just do that by faith, step by step, day by day. There's a place of rest in that. Think about Jesus who said, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest, weary and burdened. Learn from me. Well, what do we learn? We learn from someone who just handed his life to his father. He said, I'm not here to do my will, I'm here to do his will. And I pray to him, I look to him, I believe him, I trust him, and I just do what he shows

me to do. It's real complicated. And so there's a rest in that, and God wants his people to have a place of confidence and rest. Are there issues? Sure. That's why he says, don't be anxious, but, you know, in everything, bring the stuff to me, put it in my lap, I'll handle it, you're okay, I still love you. Yeah, there are needs, there are situations, there's all kinds of stuff that looks like it's out of control. It's not. I'm not someplace way off there where, oh Jesus, come, I'm way down here, I'm in a bad place. Help me. Oh, come. Please come. He's right there to begin with. Wouldn't it be nice if we acknowledged that and just said, thank you, Lord, that you're right here. I'm going to enjoy the rest that you have purchased for me at the cross for the price of your blood. Praise God, my happiness doesn't come from circumstance and how people treat me and all the kinds of things. I'm just saying the same things over and over, I guess, but does anybody need any of this? I do. I need it. God wants us to have a rest. And so there's a process involved and he is building. He is building. That means that we don't stay in the same place.

That means we are continually in the mode of looking to him to tell us what to do, show us how to do it, empower us to do it, and then just look to him and trust him with the results and understand, okay, I'm not where I'm going to be one day, but I'm trusting in him. And that's what it's all about. I'm just looking to him and he is with me in all this happening and I'm trusting in him. But what a promise. I will build. He doesn't give us building plans and say, go do it. And he doesn't wave a magic wand and produce a building. Everything in our lives is a process that is happening and is unfolding as we live. And so all God wants to do is at any point in our lives is just say, Lord, I believe you. I'm surrendered to you. My life is in your hands. Do whatever you want to do. I want your will and not mine. The needs that you show me help me to understand you're not doing it to be mad at me or condemn me. You're doing it because you love me and this is the next thing you're wanting to do as you build. And so I just say, yes, Lord, I believe you. I'm trusting in you. I'm just walking with you, Lord. That's what it's all about. I just want to be in union with you every day and looking to you and finding rest in that relationship. So that's, of course, that's on a personal level. But the fact is, he said it's church, didn't he?

There's something he's building that's not just a collection of individuals. It's building somebody together. Because the very nature of creation, of God's heart, God's purpose has to do with relationships. And you could imagine, oh, if I could just get away from everybody, go live in a cave, read my Bible, pray, sing, oh, life would be good. That's not God's heart. God wants us to express his nature in relationships. And that's where the rubber meets the road, isn't it? We learn how to humble ourselves and recognize when there's a problem, generally speaking, we need to look in the mirror because it's not our job to fix everybody around us. It's our job to say, Lord, fix me. Help me to recognize whatever's going on and do my part to reflect your nature towards those that you have put together. Because we're not just collected randomly, we're built, builded together, Paul says. In Ephesians, at the end of Ephesians 2, I think, we're built together. So why is he doing that? For a place for God to live. God's building himself a house. So he doesn't live in houses made with hands, he lives in hearts and people. But he also lives in a people who are of one heart and one mind. We talked last week about the command, love one another. And where does that come from? It comes from his heart. God is seeking to reproduce his nature. Because the very nature of the kingdom of God is being born into it, not physically, but spiritually. And it's a brand new life that is imparted into a heart. And that life is going to grow up to be just like its father. Each one of us has a place in a kingdom that lasts forever. Thank God.

All right. Let's see, you could go in a lot of places. A lot of scriptures I thought about and most of them I haven't even ... That's all right. I just want to share whatever the Lord quickens as He quickens it. But I will build my church. Again, it's His, not ours. Everything about us belongs to Him and it's not for us for our glory. Paul said, we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. That's our message. He is the one that needs to be always lifted up. Boy, if we can just do that, if we can just be a group of people who understand what's going on in the world, why we're here, what He looks for from us, and can be a people through whom He can live, my God, the light that there would be in this dark world. I'll tell you, you think God is unaware of what's going on in the world? You think it's out of His control somehow? Or is the Lord allowing people to choose and when they choose to say no to His love? He's not forcing Himself on anyone, but we're seeing the results of a world that is at war with Him. I'll tell you, I thank God we've got somebody who has already overcome. He's already got all the power that's necessary. There's not one thing He lacks. There's not one element of doubt about the outcome. And He is actually using the process to help work in me because I need it. On this rock, I will build my church, and again, the church, as we've said, is not just a bunch of random individuals. It is something that He builds together to where we have ... I don't just belong to myself, or I belong to Him, I do, but I belong to Him because I belong to you. I belong to Him in order that I might belong to you, but you belong to me too. I need the Christ that's in you. I need your prayers.

I need your words of encouragement. I need ... and I'm not soliciting here particularly, you understand what I'm saying. But I need the Christ that's in you, but everybody else needs the Christ that's in you too. You need the Christ that's in everybody else. And God is building us together. And right now, today, this is happening here. I wonder if we lose sight of the immediacy of this. This is a day-to-day process that God has called us to live out and to believe. And all that He is seeking to do, do we want Him to do it? Do we ask Him to do it? Do we believe Him? Or do we listen to the voice of the enemy and say, well, that's not happening because ... And when He does it, do we ... we have the thankfulness that was mentioned earlier. I'll tell you, God is simply looking for a people who are simple enough just to believe Him. Oh my God, how we complicate such simple things that God is seeking. But what an incredible principle that explains everything. What is this world about? I will build my church. You know, I was thinking about a scripture, one of the scriptures I thought about was in 1 Corinthians 15. I don't know that I'm going to turn over necessarily, but I'll refer to the fact that Paul writes there and he says, he must reign. He is Christ. He must reign until all enemies are under his feet. Well, that tells me that there are enemies right now that are doing their thing. You know, I was thinking this morning, there are a lot ... there are a number of us here who can remember the 60s. Do you sense kind of the same spirit going on right now? This just angry rebellion, people just looking to ... just the spirit of the enemy just trying

to tear down and foment division and hatred and confusion and fear. Well, we're seeing a repeat of it and it ain't going to get better. God wants a people who are so connected to Him that He can not only bring us through this, He can use it in the process of doing the building and we can be a light in the midst of this crazy, dark world. And He's going to connect us one way or another with the Lord. those that have His Spirit on the inside. And I want a heart that's wide open to His leadership. He has promised to do this. It's not my job to build Him a church, not yours. We have one job. Look to Him and do what He says. And trust Him with the power to do it. Praise God. But He, and of course He says in that passage that I just referred to, Paul says there's going to come a time when He will, after He's put all enemies under His feet, He's going to hand over something to the Father. What is it He's going to hand over? A kingdom. He is the ruler over a kingdom, and there is a kingdom that He is building that is going to be completely ready to hand over. Father, here it is. I did what You said. He is doing that now. Just as the Father was in Him to provide the salvation in the first place, now He is in us doing all of this work. I don't want to just blunder through and somehow it's all going to happen. I want to be connected every day to the fact that He's here active right now doing His thing, and it's going to happen because He's the one doing it. He's got all authority in heaven and earth.

That's the reason people can go out and proclaim a message like this. And wherever God reveals Himself to a heart, if they will humble themselves and believe with all of their hearts in His saving power, absolutely they become part of this whole thing that we're talking about. I will build my church. And He says, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. That sounds pretty good to me. I mean, no matter what the devil does, no matter what he's allowed to do in the world, he can't stop this. We've got brothers and sisters right now, things we've said many times that are in difficult places. There's hardly a day goes by where I don't read some news story about some place in Africa, Nigeria is one of them, and some other places where, you know, 39 Christians were just killed. Tribesmen came in and slaughtered, you know, broke into a service and slaughtered people. And then 79 were killed, 29 were killed. This is going on every day. We don't even hear about it all. You suppose that's a failure on his part? No, I'll tell you. What did Paul say? I'm trying to remember the words. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. See, this is one, this is one thing because the life that he puts in somebody who surrenders to him is a life that the devil himself cannot kill. He cannot kill it. So whether his purpose is for us to live out here and to serve God and to allow his life to live in us or whether he takes us out and we die, praise God, we're victors either way because of Christ. Everything goes back to him and everything that he's done goes back to the Father who is God over all.

To him be the glory, praise God. I don't suppose any of you have had the devil fighting against you this week, any? Everything's just going smooth. The devil's not putting up any fuss at all. Well, we know he does. We know that serving the Lord in this world is a warfare. And I just, I want to be one that just learns how to look to the Lord and realize I don't fight from a position of frustration and defeat and hopelessness, I've got to try but I can't do it. No, I want to realize that when Christ brought me forth from the grave of sin and gave me new life, he didn't just leave me here, he put me on the throne with him. I have every right to stand with him and say, devil, you no longer own me. You have no right to my heart, you have no right to my life. I realize I'm not there yet, I've got needs, but I've got a Savior who is able to bring me all the way through. He is able to save completely those who come to God by him. Why? Because he always, he lives. He lives, he's at the throne, we've always got a place we can go. Oh, don't ever be discouraged by the process, don't ever be discouraged by the enemy and whatever he may be doing in your life right now. Don't look at that, don't take it seriously, I mean in the wrong sense. So you understand what I'm saying. We have every right to stand against it and say, devil, I'm looking to Jesus. He is my Lord. He is my Savior. He has made a promise that I believe he is absolutely carrying out. I will build my church. On this rock, who he is and the revelation of that, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

To God be the glory. And of course, we see right after that, Peter argues with the Lord, you're not going to die. And the Lord said, get behind me, Satan. So that encourages me in this sense that I don't have to be perfect. I'm still a work in progress. When I run into a need, thank you, Lord, for showing me my need. How many of you react that way? I hear lots of giggles, lots of snickers. It tells us something, doesn't it? God wants us to see things differently through his eyes. I want him, I mean, part of me doesn't want to say this, but I want him if there's a need and he wants to use me in a greater way and he wants to do things in me and through me and lead me forward. I want him to show me what's holding that up and to give me the willingness and the strength to say, yes, Lord, not my will, but yours be done. I'll tell you, we've got an awesome God. We've got a powerful Savior who's ... He has all authority in heaven and earth and we just have to trust him every day. But I want, again, I'll come back to the central thought. I want us to realize that this is not just something Jesus said long ago. This is something that is happening here right now in our lives and we need to be tuned in and looking to him actively and desiring it. Just like Jesus desired to do the will of the Father, he desires us to be looking to him that he would do everything needful in us so that we can be built together as a place that God can feel at home. We're not there yet, are we? But he's working on it and we don't need to be anxious and fearful about not being there. We just have to say, Lord, you're in charge and you promised to finish what you started and I believe you.

Go for it. Praise God. This has been the Midnight Cry broadcast. If you would like a DVD or CD of today's message in its entirety, please request it by program number. While it is not required, a donation of $10 for DVDs and $5 for CDs is suggested to help with expenses. Also for those who request it, we will send you our quarterly publication, the Midnight Cry Messenger, free and postage paid. Send your requests to Midnight Cry Ministries, Post Office Box 685, Southern Pines, North Carolina, 28388. We invite you to join us again next week at the same time, and may God richly bless you until then.