Building God's Building

hallelujah let's do that together that's right hallelujah hallelujah in the name of jesus we exalt you lord we exalt you the lord loves it when we're doing what we are doing right now and that is to exalt his name consistently through the scripture god and other god and speaking through both jesus christ paul and peter uses the building analogy to illustrate and teach life's lessons i'm going to use their template today peter talked about living stones paul about building fitly joined together jesus taught a parable about building a tower and building a house on the sand or on the rock and then jude wrote about building up ourselves through prayer in the holy ghost and in first corinthians chapter 3 paul repeats this analogy again he said in verse 16 know you not that you are the temple of god i want you to think just a moment i am the temple i am the building project i am the house of god and the spirit of god dwells in you if any man defiles the temple of god him shall god destroy god serious for the temple of god is holy set apart special which temple you are and then a little earlier in that same chapter chapter 3 first corinthians verse 9 your labors together with god you're god's husbandry you are god's building you can't say it much plainer you are god's house according to the grace of god which is given unto me as a wise master builder paul said i have laid the foundation all of these building terms and somebody else will build on that and let every man be careful take heed how you are building this house that is yours and yet belongs to god for no other foundation can no man lay than what is laid which is jesus christ to be to build god's building it's important that we know what are your plans god what are your blueprints what is your perspective about my life what kind of a building do you want and then how can i build that building that you want and of course the great helps that we have we have the holy ghost his spirit we have his word and of course we have that word which is a blueprint of what god wants us to be and wants us to do i want to preach for a little while this subject building god's building we've talked about it as far as this physical building 901 barracks view but there also is another building that god is concerned about he said you're a building you're a house i i'm looking at a few hundred houses today that god not only wants to reside in but it will give him glory as to how we build his house would you praise him he's the wisest master builder lord i'm glad you're the foundation jesus christ jesus christ you're our foundation you're the foundation of this word you're the foundation of this world you're the foundation of our lives we thank you for it very much lord in jesus name amen thank you for praying and you may be seated the basic elements of building are first of all a need emerges and then a vision comes to meet that need and especially in our case as believers and people of the word and the spirit prayer is involved in fact we had that over this building and other building projects prayer and of course over our lives as building then a plan develops and blueprints are created and costs of course are involved and we're helping to fund that through the building fund commitments and then there are the results and the rewards those are the basic elements of a building and also of building a life for christ every building project there has ever been began with a vision to answer some kind of a need our building project was that and others our building growth project and plan started because of a need that existed for room and expansion and in response to that need we began to envision we sent out a letter to the congregation in that letter was also a survey there's a picture of the server i know you can't read it and we we've got back in the office every answer that we we received on how people were envisioning the building that we are now setting in but what happened is and what was on that survey is what do we need and what do you feel like are the needs that we have and of course this building is a result of that need the principle vision answers need also is true of god's spiritual projects our lives god in his great wisdom sees a need needs of this world needs of each person humanity needs that he himself wants and has you and i are the answer to god's needs it's true that he is the answer to our needs but it is also true that you and i are the answers to god's need that's why the vision that god has for your life is going to answer the needs that he sees one of those would be god wants and desires and needs you could say a relationship with us we need one with him but god has chosen to say i need a relationship with you that's what he's trying to work in our lives that's what he uses services like this for to help us gain a great relationship and then we have a personal need we as humans we need a lasting purpose we need something to live for when people lose a purpose and lose the desire then they also lose a desire to live they don't see that their life has any purpose and that's why you have the suicide rate that you have and and the drug addictions and other answers as people are trying to find a lasting purpose and then of course there is our great need for our salvation suffice to say the plan of god for your life answers a need you are not some number somewhere you are not just one in billions of people to god we are among the billions of people but we are not lost in god's file cabinet somewhere your life hear me everybody every individual that i preach to in this building and those of you online there is a vision and there is a purpose that god has i'm going to tell you god is concerned about the spiritual leaders of his kingdom but that's not the only ones he is he is talking about and concerned for every person that is in this room every person viewing online every living breathing human in this world god has a plan and a purpose for you i don't want you to do it right now but only in your mind if you would just kind of point your finger at your own self and says god has a vision for this person right here god has a vision he has a plan and a purpose for every person jeremiah 29 11 god said i know the thoughts that i'm thinking towards you are about you thoughts of peace not of evil this was given while they were in babylonian captivity and it didn't look like their life would amount to very much in that position of captivity but god said i'm thinking about you and i have good plans i don't know where you are in your status of life there might be somebody being held captive by something today your own thinking or maybe it is some kind of a sin or addiction none of that really matters as far as whether or not god has a plan god has a plan for you and he said they are plans for good not for disaster i've come to give you an expected end our words would be a future i've come to give you a future by the authority of the holy ghost and this verse right here i confront any spirit that has told you that you are worthless that you do not count but god has a purpose he has these plans for you number one because he loves you secondly because there are those needs that i referenced a few moments ago relationship with him salvation personally in the salvation of others and because of our need for purpose and he has chosen that you and i as humanity will be his answers to those needs this plan is for everybody there is a blueprint for salvation it's a lot simpler than this now we needed all this for the building of this building or somebody needed it but the plan of salvation is much simpler than this plan it's a plan that's for everybody hear me anybody that feels like you're lost or you know that your life needs to be taken care of in salvation god said whosoever will he said as many as are far off he said as many as the lord our god shall call i just want to pose a question to you today are you building salvation into your life are you building faith repentance water baptism in jesus name the receiving of the holy ghost living of a godly righteous holy life what are you envisioning and building as far as salvation is concerned and i would also say this about god's vision and god's blueprint for you god sees you as being saved god sees the person you are praying for as being saved repeating that god sees you as saved don't say not me god sees you as being saved sees you as being washed in his blood he loves you he wants to forgive you he wants to wash away your sins he wants to fill you with the holy ghost and the new birth blueprint is simple repentance baptism in jesus name and receiving the holy ghost i say you know there was a time when we had to have more than blueprints somebody had to move some dirt somebody had to do some work somebody had to put a shovel in a bigger one than that one somebody had to do some take some action i want to say today take action for your salvation decide to turn away repent of your sin and turn toward god take it's good to think about being baptized but if you've never been baptized in jesus name you should be need be baptized in the name of jesus christ and then open your life to receive the holy ghost it's time to take action it's time to put legs on our faith and in the in the course of the building and in the uh subject of a building it's time to put lumber and steel and walls where the blueprint calls for it you know it's good to know acts 238 but it's better to obey acts 2 38. it's good to know john 3 3-5 you must be born again but it's even better to be born again of the water and the spirit i want to pause again to say god has a purpose for you specifically and again you don't have to do it on the outside but do it on the inside for me god has a plan for me sometimes we categorize plans and we feel like if they're not all that dramatic if they're not all all of that special or if they're not like somebody else's plan that really it doesn't mean very much it means a lot to god it means a lot to god his purpose and his vision for your life the scripture says that we have a god-intended eternal purpose everybody sitting in here not only are you going to spend eternity somewhere but in the vaults of heaven in the file drawers of heaven if you went to pull out the plans and the vision and the blueprints of god you would see there is a plan far and then your name there there is a plan there is a plan for every body specifically we're his workmanship we've been created for him and for his purposes paul said he has a purpose for us somebody said there are at least two important days in your life the day you were born and the day you find out why why was i born it wasn't just to add another member to the willaford family before i was conceived by my parents i was conceived in the mind of god i'm going to tell somebody you are not an accident men may categorize it that way that's why human life is so important that's why abortion is so horrible because it's destruction of the plan of god and the vision of god every one of your children have a purpose in the plan of god every one of us as parents and grandparents not only does god call see you as saved god sees you as serving him everybody say serving that's how god sees us he has a calling and i want to pause here and say before i type these notes i paused because i did not want to just be flinging out preacher rhetoric or something that would sound right and good because i will be held accountable for this message as well as every other message that i have preached but this was of often important importance because it's god's vision and his purpose that i'm trying to handle here today god has a calling a calling is this simply a purpose with a divine touch it's good to have our own purposes it's good to try to fulfill the purposes of others that they see for our life but a calling from god is a purpose a calling is more than preaching it's more than teaching it's more than standing behind a pulpit and you know i'm not demeaning all of those i try to do all of those things but what i do want to destroy is the limitation of calling only to be here so to speak every one of us i gotta tell you this i gotta dislike salvation for everybody serving is for everybody god has a purpose with a divine touch for every person it's so important we discover that somebody said if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time if there's no goal no plan you will achieve exactly that nothing so i ask you today and this this is a simple question but it's serious i wish i could sit down with everybody just face to face in a private manner and ask this question what are you aiming at what is your vision for your life will what you are aiming at and trying to achieve will it change your life hold on everybody hold on just a moment will what you are envisioning and what you're giving yourself to and energy or money or whatever it is what is your vision for your life will it change your life will it help to build a legacy for the glory of god will it influence a wave of good hear me this isn't far-fetched here hear this well people look back in history if the lord tarries 15 or 20 or 30 or more years somebody referenced it today i believe it was brother river those elders that were part of our church they looked ahead they gave they prayed for where we are will people look back in history the history of your life and say he she changed my life change the lives of others it happens it's happened over and over again a couple of years ago i was preaching in minnesota at the district conference and in my opening remarks i happened to mention that the church that i was pastoring at apostolic pentecostal church st louis and one of our former pastors reverend winford black folks people came from all parts of that congregation the the home missions director of that state came up to me and said brother willaford when i was going to youth camp when for black preached that youth camp and i received the baptism of the holy ghost somebody else came up and said my wife received the holy ghost that was back in the 1960s 50 70 years ago the influence the influence of one man there are people that are in this room today i've heard brother river i love to hear him tell it about the night that god really touched his life and how virgil o'bannon walking the aisles went to where brother reaver was and spoke with him and brother nathan river renewed his commitment to god and it's never been the same you you never knew i've gotten a call recently i've gotten two calls recently from a man many of you will not know him george benedict he's called me twice just to see how i'm doing and how the church is doing some wonderful conversations that we have but in 1975 when i graduated from high school it was a sunday night graduation from roosevelt high school 1971. that was a long time ago 1970 i graduated from there in 75 i graduated from gateway college of evangelism it was on that occasion that graduation with the benedict who was a teacher a preacher a student of the word of god he taught our college in career class and i remember esteeming him and looking up to him and he gave me this book i've used it many many times preaching from the types and metaphors of the bible i've used a whole lot of things from this book but i'm going to tell you one of the most special pages or the fly leaf and he wrote a little message to this young man you don't know how many times i've gone back to that little message to a young man whom older men admire god bless and richly anoint my brother george bennett i told him not long ago brother ben and nate thank you for your investment in my life thank you for seeking a vision and a purpose that was 1975 all of those years ago and here i am preaching about it today i'm telling you he had no idea when he just wrote that little transcript in that book the times that i would need an affirmation what do you envision i'm not saying he was envisioning oh i wanna i wanna i wanna i want to do something to make steve wilford preach about me 30 40 50 years from now that wasn't what he was doing he had a heart who do you have a heart for who our pastor has a heart for the next generation to bring he's calling it bring him up the mountain with you so all of us have somebody hey dad's 91 anybody older than 91 here i wonder who's the ah brother kinder praise god you're not supposed to ask women their age so i'll do i'll treat my elder like i do that i won't i won't ask you to say i don't know who the youngest person is here the youngest baby but everybody except that young baby has somebody that's younger than you everybody in here or you have some peers i'm just asking what are you aiming at i'm going to say i want to cut everybody loose i'm going to tell you coming through this graduation season these graduates are they here today the graduates we have would you stay in our high school graduates i see justin there's ella i applaud you i thank god thank you all and there there are people thank you maybe seated there are others that have gotten their masters and doctorates i want to i want to cut this generation loose go for as much as you can go far it needs a better head clap than that if you don't believe it don't be a hypocrite but it needs better than that right there and get all that education but that's not the main thing education does not eclipse eternity what am i doing today that'll make a difference in eternity what will you do today that could make an eternal difference for the glory of god god didn't mean for finding his will to be hard or strenuous but he does mean for us to pray about it but i didn't put up that little excerpt out of that letter that we sent we knew from the beginning the building we knew we would need money we knew we were going to hire a contractor and hire an architect we knew all of the practical things but there was one thing that god would not let me get away from as i prepared and i hesitated on it before i remember writing that letter and i remember thinking people are going to think he just thinks we can pray and the law get done no no no there's a practical side that we have to take care of but the main thing is prayer if you're wanting to know what the vision and the blueprint of god is for you and how to fulfill it i'm calling on you to prayer we got prayer and fasting coming up not this week but the next week that would be a good item to put we need to know it we need to know the will of god and he didn't mean for it to be obscure or hard or strenuous he meant for us to understand his plan and in this letter we simply just ask all the help that we're going to need is going to come through prayer sensitivity to hearing god's voice and i made this appeal and people responded please season all your thoughts concerning this matter the new building this was in 1993. we were still years away from moving into this building please season all your thoughts concerning this matter with prayer we want god's will to be the deciding factor and now i repeat that's about your life please i beg you today please season all of your thoughts all of your plans concerning this matter of the vision of god and you being god's temple please season it with prayer because god's will must be the deciding factor god stopped me this morning in the final preparations i already had it all planned out god stopped me and he said i just want to remind you of how this might be received because when there are themes and messages like this sometimes we frame it only in the context of to the younger generation and it applies but he stopped me he said i want you to make an appeal i wrote it on this little note i want you to make an appeal to all age groups elder god is not finished with you as yet there is as much a purpose i know it looks different than what it did in the past middle-aged couples young people children god has a vision and a plan for every one of us and i confront today by the authority of the holy ghost anything that says i have no more purpose i tried i was fulfilling a blueprint i was building a wall but something happened and that wall was destroyed i just say today build again build again there's a jerusalem that might look like rubble but there is a nehemiah spirit in this room stand with me if you would please i say build again when you think about this you were created with god's purpose in mind he said through david he said i saw you in the womb i knew you before you were formed i know that we have to make our own decisions i know that we're the ones that have to make the choice but we have to make those underneath the anointing of god the covering of god for our life there is a purpose for every soul that is in this building and every person viewing online there is a purpose god has a purpose for that person that is lost right now or that is not serving god to their fullest that you are praying for god has a per i feel like there's an intercessor here that can stand in the gap for somebody your i know you need to build your own temple in your own life but god wants to put you alongside somebody else on their wall to help them build and be the temple that god has hallelujah would you bow your head please closed eyes o lord i thank you for your word and i thank you for your purpose it's higher and greater your ways are higher and greater than man's ways our purposes our purposes are our limited gods if they're only in themselves but not our purposes as you direct not our vision that you have given us not the blueprints that you have provided for us god now we're praying we're seasoning this matter we're seeking your face somebody i pray that somebody that needs to repent will do so and somebody that has been thinking about baptism help them to put that blueprint into action lord help them build that into their life somebody to receive the holy ghost right while they're watching online god are right here to open their heart and open their life lift their hand to receive you lord i'm asking everybody here would you just lift your hands to the lord and would you commit to him right now we're going to come to the altar in just a minute but before we do that would you just be willing to say lord i want to surrender i want to yield to your plans so i want to to be appealed to you as the master architect i want to appeal to you god i feel your purpose i'm going to open this altar right now you need to come for any any reason any reason maybe there's a decision this is not the case for everybody but there's a decision immediately ahead god has a plan about that he has a will about that make sure you decide before you take that job before you take that job pray pray the amount of money that you will make is important but that's not the most important thing that decision about a move it's important to be practical it's important to price things out but those aren't the most important things that decision about a job about school look further than this life look eternally don't let anything eclipse eternity here's what you want me to be here's what you want me to do it's not always easy to do the will of god it's not always easy to say yes to some things and no to other things but god will help us god will help us i'm going to ask everybody that will to find a place of prayer somewhere in this building if it's at your own view or down here at the front would everybody just go before the lord we're seeking him about the purpose that he has for our life we're singing about we're seeking you about your purpose oh lord we want that jesus we want that lord we want that lord we wanted jesus we wanted jesus we want it today jesus oh yes help us to fulfill it lord yes within me you praise that i take every moment is i worship you oh oh is heart i give you my soul breath that i take every moment lord i give you my heart i give you my soul that i take every moment is i worship you within me you is heart breath that i take every moment every breath that i take every moment lord i give you my heart every moment i'm away is my heart i worship you me why don't you sing this with us right now every breath that i take every moment lord i give you my heart every moment i'm away me you are my clay therefore you will be my vessel your clay does not belong to anything in this world to the enemy of your soul i created the clay i created you and my name is on you to identify my ownership of you i am going to cover you because your vessel is valuable to me and so i am going to use my power to protect the vessel that i have created and when something wants to destroy that vessel they will come against my protection first of all you are underneath the covering of my love my spirit and my word you belong to me says the lord