Dwelling Place Series 1.6-"The Church" Lively Stones with a Living Lord

“I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).”

Stained glass windows. A tall steeple. A picture of the cross at the front. What images do you get in your mind when you think of church? There is nothing wrong with most of these things, but they are not primarily that with which we should associate the Church. The Church is not a building or an external being, rather, it is the living Body of Christ, His representative on earth.

The sixth dwelling place in our study of the Dwelling Places of God is the Church. It is the dwelling place of the current age of history (the Church Age); today, God dwells not in a building made by human hands but in the individual members of His worldwide Church. And if you are a believer in Christ, you are part of the universal Church and are called to be His dwelling place.

In the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul describes the Church by using 3 “B’s”. The Church belongs to Christ, and it is His Building, His Body, and His Bride.

1) His Building (Ephesians 2:19-22).

We are God’s building, called to be “living stones” making a spiritual house. As living stones, we must allow God to polish and shape us into the image He has in mind for us. Just as a man walks into a building and rests, so God desires to rest inside of you.

2) His Body (Ephesians 1:22,23).

How often are you inside your body? Does your brain go places that your body isn’t taking it? No, we are inside of our body all the time! If we are healthy, our head controls the body and dictates what it does. Likewise, Christ is our Head and we should be submitted to His lordship. If we are not listening to our Head, we have a spiritual sickness and must cry out to God for repentance and restoration. Christ is in now in heaven-we are His hands and feet extended to the world. Let’s be a faithful representation of Him.

3) His Bride (Ephesians 5:25-27,31,32).

A man dwells with his bride every day. No one knows a man better and lives closer to him than his wife! This is the kind of relationship God wants to have with us; open, transparent, and holy. As His Bride, we should seek to be clothed in pure, white spiritual garments, free from sin and corruption. God is calling us to be His special possession-are we willing to obey?

Let’s be faithful so that we will eternally be part of Christ’s Building, Body, and Bride!

The Visitation of the King of kings-Dwelling Place Series 1.5

"Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer of all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves (Mark 11:17)."

The fifth dwelling place in our series is Herod’s Temple. This dwelling place was actually an extension and repair of the Restoration Temple. It is named after Herod, the evil Roman king who ordered it to be built. Why would evil Herod desire to build a temple for God? The answer is that he was trying to become more popular with the people he was governing, the Jews. Thus, he built this temple not for God’s glory but for his own.

However, the extraordinary thing is that God overcame this bad beginning to dwell in this temple in remarkable ways. Herod’s Temple is the temple that was standing during Christ’s time on earth. Thus, any time you read of an event happening in the temple during the life of Christ (such as His dedication, discussing issues with the doctors of law, explaining about the river of life, the veil being torn upon His crucifixion), this is the temple in which it took place. Truly, there was a tremendous glory in this temple as it was visited by the King of kings in the flesh!

During the time of Christ, merchants and money changers had flooded this temple, using it is a place of profit. When Christ saw this, holy anger rose within Him and He drove them out. He declared that His house was not to be a place of business, but above all else was to be a house of prayer.

This statement brings us to a vital truth about God’s dwelling places; they are always to be characterized by prayer above all else! If you want your life to be a place that God is pleased to dwell in, you must be a person of prayer. He is looking for those who will press in to Him, spending time each day seeking His face, people who have a passion for prayer and His presence. Let’s be prayer-saturated dwelling places for Him.

The Glory that is Coming is Greater than that which was Lost-Dwelling Place Series 1.4

The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:9)”

If you’re a sports fan, you know that there are few things more exciting than a comeback. When your team is down by a large margin with time running out and still comes back to win, it is exhilarating. Or even better is when you are playing the game and participating in the comeback!

The fourth dwelling place in our series is the Restoration Temple, which is the story of a much-greater comeback. It replaced the Temple of Solomon, which stood for about 400 years before being destroyed because of the Jews’ continual disobedience to God and worship of idols. The Jews then spent 70 years in captivity in Babylon before God caused them to be set free and return to Jerusalem.

Upon their return to Jerusalem, the Jews began to rebuild the temple, which had been completely ruined. Upon the completion of the temple, the Jews had a dedication service. It was time of great joy, but also a time of sorrow as the old men who had once seen the Temple of Solomon compared it to the Restoration Temple. When it came to outward beauty, the Restoration Temple was nothing compared to the previous. Whereas the Temple of Solomon had been the joy of the whole earth, the Restoration Temple was little more than a run of the mill place of worship.

However, although the Restoration Temple lacked in outer beauty, the prophets of God saw a different side of it; in fact, they declared that it’s glory would exceed that of Solomon’s temple! God does not look at things the same way that man does. The glory that was coming was greater than that which was lost!

And this is a tremendously important truth for us today. Why? Because the Restoration Temple is a picture of today’s Church, and it gives us a promise; we have greater glory coming! When you look at the Church today, it seems that we are nothing compared to the Church in the book of Acts. They had such power, glory, faith, and grace, and we simply do not measure up to them. However, God’s promise to us is that the glory of the last day Church will be even greater than that of the early Church; the former and latter rain will fall together (Joel 2:23). Tremendous revival is coming, and you can be a part of it. So don’t despair over our current condition, but have faith; God is going to send revival the likes of which the world has never seen. And if you humble yourself and passionately seek God’s face, you will be part of it. Do you want greater glory? It’s coming, so press in to be a part of it!