“Change can be scary, but you know
what’s scarier? [It is] allowing fear to
stop you from growing, evolving, and progressing.” (Mandy Hale)
Ezra 5:1-4(ERV)
At that time the
prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo began to prophesy in the name of God.
They encouraged the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem. 2 So
Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak again started working on
the Temple in Jerusalem. All of God’s prophets were with them and were
supporting the work. 3 At that time Tattenai was the governor
of the area west of the Euphrates River. Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and the men
with them went to Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the others who were building.
Tattenai and the people with him asked Zerubbabel and the people with him, “Who
gave you permission to rebuild this Temple and repair it like new?” 4 They
also asked Zerubbabel, “What are the names of the men who are working on this
building?”
Ezra 6:7-11, 13-16,
22 (ERV)
7 Don’t bother the workers. Don’t try to
stop the work on this Temple of God. Let the Jewish governor and the Jewish
leaders rebuild it. Let them rebuild God’s Temple in the same place it was in
the past. 8 Now I give this order. You must do this for the
Jewish leaders building God’s Temple: The cost of the building must be fully
paid from the king’s treasury. The money will come from the taxes collected
from the provinces in the area west of the Euphrates River. Do these things
quickly, so the work will not stop. 9 Give them anything they need. If they
need young bulls, rams, or male lambs for sacrifices to the God of heaven, give
these things to them. If the priests of Jerusalem ask for wheat, salt, wine, and
oil, give these things to them every day without fail. 10 Give them to the Jewish priests so that
they may offer sacrifices that please the God of heaven. Give these things so
that the priests may pray for me and my sons.
11 Also, I give this order: If anyone
changes this order, a wooden beam must be pulled from their house and pushed
through their body. Then their house must be destroyed until it is only a pile
of rocks. 13 So Tattenai the governor of the area west of the
Euphrates River, Shethar Bozenai, and the men with them obeyed King Darius’
order. They obeyed the order quickly and completely. 14 So the Jewish leaders continued to build.
Encouraged by the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo,
they had great success. They finished building the Temple as the God of Israel
had commanded and as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia, had
ordered. 15 The Temple was finished on the third day
of the month of Adar. That was in the sixth year of the rule of King Darius. 16 Then
the Israelites celebrated the dedication of God’s Temple with much happiness.
The priests, the Levites, and all the other people who came back from captivity
joined in the celebration. 22 They celebrated the Festival of
Unleavened Bread with much joy for seven days. The Lord made them very happy because he had
changed the attitude of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria had helped
them do the work on God’s Temple.
Haggai
1:2-8, 12-14(ERV)
2 This is what the Lord All-Powerful said, “The people say it is
not yet the right time to build the Lord’s Temple.” 3 Again Haggai received a message
from the Lord. Haggai spoke this message: 4 “You people think the right time has come
for you to live in nice houses. You live in houses with beautiful wooden
paneling on the walls, but the Lord’s house is still in ruins. 5 Now the Lord All-Powerful says, ‘Think about what is
happening. 6 You have planted many seeds, but you have
gathered only a few crops. You have food to eat, but not enough to get full.
You have something to drink, but not enough to get drunk. You have some clothes
to wear, but not enough to keep warm. You earn a little money, but you don’t
know where it all goes. It’s as though there is a hole in your pocket!’”
7 The Lord All-Powerful said,
“Think about what you are doing. 8 Go up to the mountains, get the
wood, and build the Temple. Then I will be pleased with the Temple, and I will
be honored.” This is what the Lord said. 12 The Lord God had sent
Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and to the high priest, Joshua
son of Jehozadak. So these men and all the people listened to the voice of the Lord their God and to
the words of Haggai the prophet. And the people showed their fear and respect
for the Lord their God. 13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger,
delivered this message to the people: “The Lord says, ‘I am with
you!’”14 Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel was the governor of Judah.
Joshua son of Jehozadak was the high priest. The Lord made them and the
rest of the people excited about working on the Temple of their God, the Lord All-Powerful.
The mission of the five
churches that make up CenterPoint (Gahanna, Westerville, Lewis Center,
Hilliard, and Nagpur, India) has always been transforming lives for Jesus from
the centerpoint out. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, it was not a
difficult decision to move church services from in an in-person format to an
online one (for the safety of the congregation members everywhere). The real
difficulty was to know how and when to restart in-person church services in a
safe (and legal) manner.
Restarting
the mission means …
·
We
need to remind ourselves of the mission-Jesus mission is given in Matthew 28:18-20 (ERV): 18So he came to them and
said, “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. 19 So
go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach
them to obey everything that I have told you to do. You can be sure that I will
be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of time. (See
Ezra 5:1-2 above)
·
We need to
stop making excuses for the mission-(See
Ezra 5:2-4 above) We
all know that when there’s a race, all the runners bolt for the finish line,
but only one will take the prize. When you run, run for the prize. (1
Corinthians 9:24, VOICE)
·
We need
to make a commitment-
(See Haggai 1:2-5 above) Turn to the Lord for help in everything
you do, and you will be successful. (Proverbs
16:3, ERV)
·
We need resources-(See
Ezra 6:7-8, Haggai 1:7-8 above) Volunteers and funding is always needed in
God’s work. So
the impossible is possible with God. (Luke
1:37, VOICE)
·
God will go with us-(See
Ezra 6:8-11, Haggai 1:12-14 above) So what does all this mean? If God has
determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us? (Romans
8:31, TPT)
·
Beautiful, amazing things can happen -(See
Ezra 6:13-14 above) God
has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we
would do good works. God had planned in advance those good works for us. He had
planned for us to live our lives doing them. (Ephesians
2:10, ICB)
·
We see the kingdom of God built on Earth-(See
Ezra 6:15- 16, 22 above) What
you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then
he will give you all these other things you need. (Matthew
6:33, ERV)[i]
[i] Inspired by the
sermon “Restart: The Comeback” (installment four) Sunday September 27,
2020, Pastor Josh Boyer (CPLC). All CenterPoint churches are open
in-person at 10am. They will continue to meet online at
facebook.com/centerpointchurches or centerpointchurches.com/live.
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