Signup for Weekly Newsletter Is God's plan for His church truly unfolding in our time? Join us as we explore this divine construction and the pivotal roles of church leaders, drawing from the instructions of Jesus to Peter and the wisdom Paul shared with the Corinthians. We'll discuss how church leaders are not just shepherds but empower and uplift their congregations. Through the lineage of Israel and the arrival of Jesus as a beacon to the Gentiles, we'll demonstrate that God's promises are steadfast and unyielding, even against the odds. By examining stories like those of Abraham and Sarah, we see that what seems impossible to man is always possible with God.
But what does it mean to be God's temple? In this episode, we dive deep into biblical prophecies from Daniel and Revelation, highlighting the enduring significance of Israel in God’s ultimate plan. We'll discuss the unity of believers, stressing that both Jews and Gentiles form God's holy temple, built on the foundation of Christ. Reflecting on Ephesians 1:7-10, we explore the boundless redemption and forgiveness offered through Christ's sacrifice, revealing the grand mystery of God's will to unite all things under Him. Tune in, be inspired, and strengthen your faith journey with us today.
Signup for Weekly Newsletter Is God's plan for His church truly unfolding in our time? Join us as we explore this divine construction and the pivotal roles of church leaders, drawing from the instructions of Jesus to Peter and the wisdom Paul shared with the Corinthians. We'll discuss how church leaders are not just shepherds but empower and uplift their congregations. Through the lineage of Israel and the arrival of Jesus as a beacon to the Gentiles, we'll demonstrate that God's promises are steadfast and unyielding, even against the odds. By examining stories like those of Abraham and Sarah, we see that what seems impossible to man is always possible with God.
But what does it mean to be God's temple? In this episode, we dive deep into biblical prophecies from Daniel and Revelation, highlighting the enduring significance of Israel in God’s ultimate plan. We'll discuss the unity of believers, stressing that both Jews and Gentiles form God's holy temple, built on the foundation of Christ. Reflecting on Ephesians 1:7-10, we explore the boundless redemption and forgiveness offered through Christ's sacrifice, revealing the grand mystery of God's will to unite all things under Him. Tune in, be inspired, and strengthen your faith journey with us today.
Hello, welcome again to the Takeaway. I'm your host, pastor Harry Behrens, and in today's episode we're going to discuss how God is constructing His church, or carrying out His plan to redeem and equip those he has called to accomplish His will. In our last episode we looked at the first part of chapter 2 and saw that we were dead in our sins and unable to save ourselves. God is the one calling and equipping us so that we live a life glorifying Him, with the promise that His joy would be full in us. He has brought you into a relationship where he desires to commune with you and wants us to be fully satisfied in Him. This is the opposite of the joy we searched for when we lived for the world. That joy was fleeting and never satisfied us. It leaves us desperate for genuine relationships, which are only found in the church setting not a church building, but in church people, as we will see in today's message God has gifted to the church leaders who are for the equipping of the saints. Leaders are to pray for, teach, feed and care for the flock until Christ returns for them. If this isn't the environment you are currently in, I highly suggest you start looking for a fellowship that has these characteristics, as the Lord desires that his sheep be well cared for, anything less is not from him or for him. John, 21, 15-17. When they had finished breakfast, jesus said to Simon Peter Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him yes, lord, you know that I love you. He said to him feed my lambs. He said to him a second time Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him yes, lord, you know that I love you. He said to him tend my sheep. He said to him a third time Simon, leaders should feed, care for and love the flock. Well, jesus told Peter that leaders should feed, care for and love the flock. Well, paul understood this as well, as we see in 2 Corinthians, 11, 2, verses 2 and 3. For I feel divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
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I would strongly recommend that, if you are part of a church without supportive leaders, you consider finding a new community. It's important to be in a place where you can grow and become all that you are meant to be. Unfortunately, many churches today are focused on using people to further their own goals without taking the time to support individuals in finding and fulfilling their own callings. Remember, church leaders are meant to empower and support the members of the church, not the other way around. Jesus paid the ultimate price for the church so that we would no longer be separated from him or each other.
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Paul reminds us in these verses that we were once separated from God, having no hope in this world, and that we should recognize that a great price was paid for us to become a part of God's family. Ephesians 2, 11-12. Therefore, remember that at one time, you, gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. The Jews are the circumcised and they were meant to be a light unto the Gentiles. Instead, they became proud as if they were the only people God cared about. Interestingly, god fulfilled his promise to bring the light to the Gentiles through his chosen people, israel through Jesus. Isaiah 49.3. It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
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In the Gospel of Luke, the identity of the servant, the king and the Messiah is revealed in reference to the passage in Isaiah, luke 2, 25-32. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came, in the Spirit, into the temple and when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace According to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for your glory to your people. Israel, according to Simeon, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, said that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise to bring glory to Israel and to shine as a light to the Gentiles. It's important to recognize that when God makes a promise, whether to an individual or a nation, he will ensure that it is fulfilled, even if those entrusted with the promise fail. Despite Israel's inability to live up to its intended purpose and God's promises, he brought forth the Messiah from the lineage of Israel to fulfill the promise himself and bring light to the Gentiles. Nothing and no one can hinder the fulfillment of God's word. This pattern is evident throughout scripture, such as in the life of Abraham. Despite the long wait and apparent impossibility, god fulfilled his promise to Abraham of a great nation coming from his seed through Sarah, as he had originally intended. God often makes us wait for the fulfillment of his word in seemingly impossible situations, so that we can be assured that it is indeed from him.
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Genesis 17, 15-19. And God said to Abraham as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and, moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become. She shall become nations, kings of peoples shall come from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old. Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. God said no. But Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him, moving on to Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 13 to 16.
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But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace. Who has made us both one has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Romans 10, 12-13 says, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord, it will be saved. This is not to say that Israel has no place with God anymore as a nation. That is not what this is saying or what I am saying. It talks about salvation that has come now to the Gentiles in the same manner, and we both have access to God. The nation of Israel is still to this day, regardless of what some will say, god's chosen people, whom he has promised to reveal himself. That was not completed at the cross. If we look at the book of Daniel, we can see that God has an eternal plan for Israel and they have a specific role before God.
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The book of Revelation talks about the tribulation period, which is the accomplishment of what Daniel says. Listen to this Daniel 9, 24. 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin and to atone for inequity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet and to anoint a most holy place. For more on this topic, I would suggest you listen to episode 11, titled Review of Bible Prophecy, found in my Revelation study. At thetakeawayfaith.
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I spent a great deal of time discussing this topic and how Israel is God's chosen people to whom he made promises, and they will be fulfilled. The church has not in any way, shape or form replaced Israel. I can't stress this enough the idea of replacement theology is from the devil. This causes hatred towards the Jews and has no place within the church. Instead, we are to bless the Jews and be a light unto them, as they were supposed to be unto us. Someday they will be grafted back in, and Scripture says that will happen at the end of the time of the Gentiles.
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Genesis 12, 3 says I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Romans 11, 23-24 says and even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. For God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, moving on to Ephesians spirit to the Father, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens, with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
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What does it mean? That we are being joined together. It means that there's no difference between one Christian and another, or a Jew and a Christian who have put their faith in Christ. Anyone who believes in Jesus is one with him, and we are one with them. We are all one family being built on the teachings of God's word given to us through the apostles, prophets and teachers. What's important here is that you understand that you and I are the temple of the living God. He lives in us and because of that we are holy. It's not about what we do, but about who lives in us.
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The problem is that most of us either don't realize this or care. We go about our lives complaining about life and never being satisfied with God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that this shouldn't be the case and instead we should be focused on caring for ourselves and others, as the priests cared for the temple. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 3, 1-23. But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and even now you are not ready, for you are still the flesh. For while there is still jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says I follow Paul and another I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants, through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each? I planted, apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth, nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor, for we are God's fellow workers.
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You are God's field, god's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one of us has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
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Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, god will destroy him, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise, for the wisdom of this world is folly with God, for it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness, and again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile. So let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world, or life or death, or the present or the future. All are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. 2 Corinthians 6, 14-18.
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So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. 1 Peter 2.5,. You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Understanding that your body is God's holy temple should change your perspective on how you treat yourself and others. You are no longer to be concerned with the things of this world and instead you should be focused on cleaning your house up so that you are ready for the day that you are presented to the Lord. The best way to start doing this is to get into a Bible teaching church family with leaders who care about you and your growth, as Paul does. In our next episode, we will look deeper at the leaders God gave to the church and for what purpose they were placed there.
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So many people take it for granted that these were gifted for your sake, not theirs. They are God's gift to you, and so many of us only go to church when it suits us, usually when we don't have anything better to do. The problem with that perspective is you don't recognize the giver or the gift. You probably view church as something others want you to do to help them fulfill their ministry. This couldn't be further from the truth, as they are there to help you with your ministry.
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You need to reset your mindset today and ask yourself what's better than a gift from God? What could you possibly want from anyone or anything else that's better than what he has for you? If your wife, husband, mom or dad said they had a gift for you and that you had to show up to get it, would you go? Of course you would. Why? Because you want the gift or out of respect and love for the gift giver? It should be because of who the giver is. When we allow people we love to give to us, we are allowing them to express their love towards us in a way that brings them joy and should bring you joy and satisfaction as well.
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When you don't attend church fellowship, you are telling God that he isn't worth it. Not only do you not want the gift for the sake of the gift, but you aren't even giving any thought to the pain you are causing the giver. Don't let that be you. Instead, recognize that God has given you everything you need for life and godliness. Go to Him and receive all that he has given you, everything you need for life and godliness. Go to him and receive all that he has for you. His gifts are for you to live your life satisfied in him. That's what you reject. Whenever you choose something other than what God has created, designed and gifted to you, ask yourself do I really love God? If you do, then show up and joyfully receive what he has for you, lest you miss the bridegroom's coming.
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Listen to this in Matthew 25, 1 to 10. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise, for when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said to the wise Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying Since it will not be enough for us and you go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy the bridegroom, came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying Lord, lord, open to us. But he answered Truly. I say to you I do not know. You Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
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Let's pray, father God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for being so clear to us, god, that you love us so much and you've gifted us and you gave us a place to go, to be in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, to be equipped by the teachers and the evangelists. You gave us the word through the apostles and prophets, god, because you care for us and you want us to know your heart and your desire. You want us to know the plan that you've put in place to construct the church that we are now, your holy temple in which you live, and you have made us holy and you desire to glorify yourself in us and through us. Oh God, how amazing is that. Priest, please touch the heart of our listeners today. Help them to realize, god, the value that you have placed on their lives. I pray that you would convict them that they would dedicate their lives fully to you, knowing that you want nothing but the best for them. God, you are amazing and we thank you and we love you. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. I want to thank you for joining us today. I hope this message helped you take a step closer in your relationship with Jesus and that you have a better understanding of just how much God loves you and wants you to know him.
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In our next episode we're going to continue in chapter 2, as Paul takes us from the method of God's constructing his church to revealing the mystery that lies behind it. Throughout most of human history, the church was hidden behind the veil of God's word and is now revealed to us through the blood of Christ. We are his bride and he laid down his life for us, which he planned to do from the beginning of time. You and I are God's chosen people, whom he had planned to redeem for his glory before the foundation of the world was laid. This has been playing out from the beginning, and God will bring his promises to completion when the fullness of time is up.
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Ephesians 1, 7-10. In him we have redemption. Through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Before we go, I want to encourage you to visit us at thetakeawayfaith. On our website, you can sign up to receive email notifications or send us a text message from the link provided in the description of this episode. We hope that you will use this podcast as a resource to help others and that you will send us a message, a word of encouragement, or any questions or comments, as we would love to hear from you. God bless, and we'll see you next time on the Takeaway.