Arise and Build

all right well good morning to everyone and welcome to the well here at stsa and whether you're joining us here in arlington or all the way across over in leesburg or watching in the comfort of your own home happy that you're here and i want to start off by asking a question i need honest answers right here no embarrassment who when they were kids like to play with legos anyone like to play with legos like to play with legos okay so i'm admitting it okay i used to love to play with legos and when i was a kid i used to love to build the little houses and the little cars and the little whatever it may be now the problem these days when you say legos like this was before when we were growing up it was before the lego movies it was before like the lego websites and the lego fads and what i call the cheat codes you know the cheat codes now that exist like sometimes i go visit someone's house and they got a little kid a little four-year-old six-year-old and he built like this lego car that like can drive on on the highway and i'm like how did you build that like that's incredible you're a genius he's like no i just followed the code and i got it from this website or whatever it is now there's websites that'll tell you and to me i don't know about you but when we were kids that's called cheating okay but that's like the thing that everyone does right now they just find the website with the code but that's not me i like to build and i used to enjoy it i don't know maybe it's like the sense of accomplishment that like nothing and then i do stuff and there's something and it's there and it sits there and creates something out of nothing makes you feel good now eventually i became an adult and unfortunately playing with legos was not cool but i still love the idea of building something out of nothing that's why for me i love the diy videos okay you know those videos that you get okay i'm on all those web all those websites for me i like to spend money in any place but if someone gives me a 100 card to home depot i'll be a happy happy person i'm at the dentist office i don't watch hgtv ever in my house but i'm at the dentist office and i am mesmerized and i'm like take the next person i got to see how this thing finishes out right here and i'm the guy i'm the guy okay i'm the guy i'm the dad that when i'm driving and i see construction i'm like hey look kids a bulldozer hey look kid's a crane into which my kids are like dad we're not six anymore that's no longer cool but one of the happiest days of my life one of the happiest days of my life was when i not only got to see construction see a bulldozer and a bobcat but i got to do this one day that's right this is one of the happiest days of my life and i'm intentionally showing you the picture of how it began and not how it concluded okay because the end picture of when i had to exit the machine was much different than the beginning of the machine but the bottom line is there's something about building something from nothing something that will last something that you can go punch out at the end of the day and say that wasn't there a minute ago i rolled up my sleeves i did something and now that exists and that lasts eventually as much as i enjoyed driving the bobcat this one day i did not go into construction i went into the priesthood instead and while you might think that i was no longer able to play with construction and building actually couldn't be further from the truth because now i started building something different and now i'm in the field of building the kingdom of god and i'm not alone in that if you're a member of this church family if you're a member of the family of god then you also are a kingdom of god builder as well now here's the thing with the kingdom of god the kingdom of god follow me here is not a physical kingdom but it exists in a physical world did you catch that the kingdom of god is not a physical kingdom but it does exist in a physical world he said what does that mean well it's the same way like god himself our god is an incarnational god our god god is flesh or god is spirit god is spiritual jesus said in john chapter four he spoke to samaritan woman god is spirit but god exists in the physical world because he took flesh he took he became incarnate that's why we're able to celebrate the eucharist and receive his body and blood which is a heavenly food as a piece of the kingdom of god but in a physical manifestation of it the kingdom of god which we are building is not a physical kingdom however it exists and it is manifest and it is built in the physical world give you some examples go back to the book of exodus okay when god gave the people of israel the commandments exodus chapter 24 chapter 25. god said if you're going to be my people are you part of my kingdom it's an invisible kingdom okay because we don't own any lamb and we don't have any buildings but to be part of my kingdom and he gave him the ten commandments and he gave him all the laws and he gave them all the rituals and it says this in exodus 24 verse three through seven it says moses came and told the people all the words of the lord and all the judgments and all the people answered with one voice and said all the words which the lord has said we will do then he took the book of the covenant and read in the hearing of the people and they said all the lord has said we will do and be obedient so you would say okay perfect they got the law god said to be my children it's this they said we accept we will do it so now you're members of the kingdom now you're members of the kingdom of god now you're part of his eternal family so what is the next logical thing if you are part of the kingdom what's next logical chapter 25 verse 8 then let them make me a sanctuary that i might dwell among them the next logical thing was a manifestation of what invisibly took place earlier a physical manifestation of an invisible truth the same happened a few years later okay when king david came and wanted to build the temple second samuel chapter seven verse one through three it says now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in the house that the king said to nathan the prophet see now i dwell in a house of cedar but the ark of god dwells inside tent curtains and nathan said to the king go and do all that is in your heart for the lord is with you david said something's done sit right with i got a permanent home and god doesn't you want to say david god is spirit and you want to say moses god is spirit he doesn't need physical and the answer is absolutely god doesn't need physical but god our god is incarnational he likes to express spiritual truths in physical ways he likes to express things which are invisible invisible tangible touchable kind of ways that's why moses when he built the tabernacle didn't think like you know what like it'd be cool like let's do something artistic and let's like it'll be really convenient to have a tabernacle right here or you know what like a chance to show off no no moses knew and the people knew we are building the kingdom of god like we're not just here because it'll be cool to have this big ark thing we are here because god has commanded us and we are the kingdom of god so we have to build this thing same with david he wasn't building a nice to have he's saying if god is going to dwell amongst us then he needs a physical home to dwell amongst us because we are physical people and we understand things in the physical world they didn't think they were building a nice to have they knew what they were doing was building the house for the king which makes it a piece of the kingdom that's why i say this this is kind of our key thought here for today i would say the greatest investment moses would say this david would say this and i say the greatest investment i can make is in building the kingdom of god the greatest investment of my time is invested in building the kingdom of god my money building the kingdom of god and when all is said and done my life my legacy when all is said and done and we're six feet under or we are a billion miles up above whatever it is i want to know the best thing that i can do with my life is invest it in building something that lasts beyond it and that isn't building the kingdom of god now of course of course the kingdom of god as i've been saying over and over is not a physical kingdom so you can build the kingdom of god in a non-physical way so i'm not saying that it has to be in buildings and i'm that's what we've been doing for the past 10 years we've been investing in the kingdom of god by loving our neighbor by loving our enemy genuine love for the community when we invite people to church when we share the good news when we spread the gospel we are building the kingdom of god so i'm not taking away from that that's who we are and that's who we will always be but what i'm saying listen carefully me to me here is that every now and then every now and then god provides us a unique once in a lifetime opportunity to build something special we will always build the spiritual kingdom of god we will always invest in people because that's who we are as the churches we've been talking about for the past six weeks that we are more than a building but every now and then god provides us with a unique opportunity provides me and you with a unique opportunity to do something special something that's once in a lifetime something that will last beyond us and obviously what i'm talking about in case you live under a rock what i'm talking about is that now we have an opportunity to build a physical home an extension of the kingdom of god here in arlington and one of the most important places in the country one of the most prominent places just outside the capital of this nation washington dc and as i said for the past 10 years i'm not saying the kingdom of god is limited to a building again see everything that i've been saying for the past 10 years the kingdom of god is not limited to a building and thanks be to god over the past 10 years we've seen that the church has grown from a very small group to a slightly larger group to an even larger group now we've got people meeting here in arlington we got people meeting in leesburg we have people watching online all over the world we're impacting the community through hope we are serving churches across the world through scsa ministries we've seen many people far from god return home and many people who didn't never knew god at all find a home right here and that's all great and that's always who we will be but what i am saying is that now specifically the year 2021 in the midst or not midst hopefully the tail end but who knows what's going to be at the tail end hopefully or whatever it is in the midst of an upside down world where we walk around like like the like zoro with masks on our faces and a pandemic that we don't know where it's coming from and where it's going and everything upside down in the middle of all that instability here we are here we are stsa with a chance to do something really special and what i'm saying once in a lifetime like i hate sometimes i hear often it's like this is historic this is historic and i know i know some churches that they like you know anything you just wore the historical people i'm not saying i don't like to use the word historic but i like i kind of want to say it is because i don't think at least not me i'm not going to be in the business of building buildings for the rest of my life like this is it we're going to build this one in arlington and we're not going to do this like every couple years let's build a building like that's it we've been here for 10 years we're doing this thing don't talk to me for about another building for at least another 10 15 years after we finish so this is it this is our opportunity to do something special and this is not this is not just a piece of the kingdom of god that we're building this is a factory for building the kingdom of god like think about the difference between i catch a fish versus versus i build a i don't know if this actually exists a fish catching station which is perpetually catching fish okay it's the difference between i go and i throw a thing versus i build a thing that's always catching the fish that's what this building is okay we're not investing just in an opportunity a one-time opportunity what we are hoping to do is build something that for years and years and generations to come our kids and our kids as kids be a place that brings an ancient faith to a modern world and if you're here today or you're watching in leesburg or you're watching in the comfort of your own home god is calling us to be the ones to build it we're the ones that god has chosen in the same way that 10 years ago he chose that generation or probably probably those who remain for that generation is probably a handful at best he chose a generation 10 years ago to build stsa when it was nothing and now 10 years later he's calling us we are the generation that he is calling to do this next thing which is to build a building for him here in arlington first chronicles chapter 28 verse 10 y'all probably hate this verse and you heard me say it a million times this is the verse that hangs in my room and i read it every single morning when i finish my prayer and specifically on sunday i recite it all the way to church it's this consider now consider now for the lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary be strong and do it the lord has chosen you the lord has chosen i want you to take this very personally the lord has chosen you like i said five years ago he didn't choose them to do it and if you weren't here five years ago if you were here he didn't choose them and five years now he's not choosing them he's choosing us who's here right now who's listening to this message he's chosen us so it's our duty to be strong and do it i'm thankful that the generation before us 10 years ago did their job now it's our turn to carry the torch what we're going to do here today is we're going to look at two guys from the old testament ezra and nehemiah two guys who built the physical kingdom of god i'm sorry who built the spiritual kingdom of god through physical buildings who expanded the kingdom and built a piece of the kingdom but did it by actual brick and mortar in the kingdom of israel ezra and nehemiah and from these two guys we're going to learn three lessons and i'll put them all up here and then we'll see them throughout these throughout these guys lives lesson number one there are no one-man shows repeat after me there are no one-man shows that's the most pathetic repeat after me i've ever heard in my life repeat after me there are no one-man shows no such thing as a one-man show in the kingdom of god no one did anything there's great figures but every single one of them you'll see was always a team effort lesson number two focus on what you can do not what you can't say it with me focus on what you can do not what you can there's a lot of things that we can't do as i've been saying is if there's someone out there who can finish the fundraising and pay all that's great but that's not usually what's going to happen i can't do it all but i can do my piece lesson number three those who miss out really miss out what's that again those who here fomo is good because here in this situation when you miss out on building a piece of the kingdom of god then those who miss out really miss out we're going to see these lessons in these three in these two guys lives okay let's get a little historical context who's or who's nehemiah the old testament story beginning with adam to the end of the new testament starting the new or the beginning of the new testament starting with christ okay it spans this a long period of time ezra nehemiah or sorry for you guys right here ezra nehemiah at the very end of that so by this time it's probably about the fifth sixth century bc the kingdom of israel was under david united and they were under solomon united and then they split after solomon died and then each of them had their own issues and they each got uh captured by two different empires the babylonian the assyrian empire ezra is now coming in at the very tail end of that when the people of god the children of god were in captivity specifically we're talking about the people of judah but it applies all the way across the board in captivity means what it means that the bad guys the babylonians came in they killed a whole bunch of people and those who were living they took them back essentially as slaves a few scattered people were left here and there but the city was destroyed and there was no reason to stay okay and those who were left were basically just kind of figuring out how to survive day by day but the majority either killed or taken back to babylon as slaves now where the babylonian empire has now been taken over by the next empire by the persians and this is where we pick up the story god has promised to his people repeatedly when they were in captivity and they were down and there's no hope and life is over because god's temple is destroyed and god's temple is god's dwelling so basically god can't exist amongst his people because his temple is destroyed and god kept telling them don't worry i'm going to work i'm going to bring you back i'm going to rebuild the temple don't worry i'm going to restore and the beginning of that restoration happens in ezra chapter 1. here's the story it says now in the first year of cyrus king of persia the word of the lord that the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah might be fulfilled the lord stirred up the spirit of cyrus king of persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing saying cyrus is not a believer in god he's a pagan king but somehow god speaks to this pagan king and let's see what he says verse 2 thus says cyrus king of persia all the kingdoms of the earth the lord god of heaven has given me and he has commanded me to build him a house again he has commanded me to build him a house at jerusalem which is in judah who is among you of all his people may his god be with him and let him go up to jerusalem which is in judah and build the house of the lord god of israel he is god which is in jerusalem this is i won't get too much into it but this is incredible this is amazing this is a divine act like no other because you have a what kind of king pagan king who doesn't believe in god who says god has spoken to me and told him to build this house in judah and you say to yourself okay logic here if you got a vision to build a temple for god why not to your own god like i i i don't understand how he was able to decipher that that it was that god that country's god not our god gods were by nations at that time so you never had a person in greece worshiping the roman gods because your your gods was like your nation they were by the nations okay so every nation had their own gods and their own religious system so here he is persian gods saying god told me the god of israel to build him a house over there it doesn't make any sense uh military-wise because you're weakening your own you're strengthening another nation doesn't make any sense religiously okay why one god would want another god to have a house doesn't make any sense financially look at the next verse in verse four says whoever is left in any place where he dwells let the men of his place help him with silver and gold with goods and livestock besides the free will offerings for the house of god which is in jerusalem he took up a collection to build a house of a god in another nation who he doesn't even worship it doesn't make any sense he weakened his own nation and his own god's treasury for the sake of the god of israel so what i would say let me summarize all that the building of the house of god the building of the house of god began with a hundred percent divine act which is undeniable that god clearly wants this house built can i tell you something that i believe the exact same thing here at stsa for those who have gone through the membership group i tell the story at the very end of how the church started and i'll just give you a very short version because it's a long story okay and those were going today okay i'll share that story with them but let me tell you that when this church started there was no doubt in my mind or anyone's mind but this was the will of god and it was a strong act of god a miraculous act that made it very very clear now i'm not going all the details but i'll give you the short version the short version was that i've been a priest for about 10 years and i had spent the first 10 years serving at another church and those first nine years i knew i was 100 where god wanted me to be but that 10th year i felt from the very start of the year that god was telling me no leave and go start at stsa i felt very clearly but i was a coward and i didn't want to do it and i said you know what i i don't want to upset people and say like you know i'm going to leave people get upset at me and i don't want to stand in front of the congregation that like raised me because like i was a kid there and like believed in me now and i don't i definitely don't want to go to my senior priest and say you know what i appreciate all you've done for me but i'm out of here like i just i couldn't do that i just i couldn't say that like i just felt i'd be like betraying him and i said you know what if it's going to be from god let it be from god and god was saying no if it's for me i'm telling you you be strong and do it you be strong and do it and i did it and i'll show you how it's an act of god i went to my senior priest and i said uh excuse me uh kinda i had this kind of idea you know and i just slipped in there i think i should leave our other church but you know you're looking good today new beard cream like what's going on there and i just slipped it in there and you know what my senior priest told me he said you know what god actually put the same thing on my heart i said what do you mean he said a god put her on my heart i'm telling him i'm scared to say this to you because i don't want you to think like i don't care about my father i want to leave my father's house and he's saying no dummy in a respectful way he's saying no dummy god put the same thing on my heart but i didn't want to stay as a father to my son i think you should leave my house so we had a nice laugh about that we said hand of god for sure but even then we said no no we still like this god has to make his will really clear if we're going to do this we've got to talk to a bishop so a bishop is involved and at that time it's very unlikely that a bishop of one is poor because everyone got their own problems we said you know what if it's from god it's from god i went to bishop david his grace bishop david who at the time the general bishop in the archdiocese and i went to him and i said i have an idea and he said okay come visit me whatever it was i remember when it was like a monday night at like 11 o'clock at night this is when bishops do meetings at 11 o'clock at night so i go there 11 o'clock at night i pitch the whole thing and he has every reason to say no and say i don't need this headache and what do i want this drama for and bishops in general like big churches to be together but starting of new things just creates drama but he said you know what i love this idea this is from god we started at 11 we ended about one o'clock in the morning and he was more excited than me so much so that i got to say this maybe in case you ever watched this so much so that actually just two weeks ago we did the groundbreaking ceremony between the groundbreaking ceremony two weeks ago his grace bishop david saw the video either on facebook or youtube or i don't know where he saw it he sent me a text and said congratulations i said thank you so much i remember how much you helped me and he said that was 10 years ago and he remembered something i said in that meeting he said you told me this 10 years ago and i'm telling you god is fulfilling that he remembered something that i said not meeting at least i think he said he said i said i don't remember saying it but if he said it he's the bishop so if he said i said it i said it but as just shows again hand of god but even then we said you know what we got to go even higher we got to go all the way to the pope and back then meeting the pope was not an easy thing and i'm telling you i met his holiness pope shinouda on december 11 2011. december 11 2011 in case you don't know the history his holiness was pope for 40 years he died in march of 2012. in march 2012 i met him in december of 2011. four months before he passed that night that i met him was the last night he was in america i met him and again about 11 o'clock at night that's again that's when usually meetings happen okay eleven it might even midnight by the time it was done okay i met him that night he left the next morning at eight a.m back to egypt and never came back to america again except just at the very final days of his life they wanted to see if they could get him some emergency treatment to keep him going a little bit he came doctor said nothing we can do he got back on a plane so he didn't meet anyone on that on that last trip so i saw him the last night of the last visit to united states of america meaning if i didn't get in there at that 11 o'clock okay we could still be waiting for a meeting with the pope right now and i went there and i'll tell you a funny story what happened when i got there i got there his grace bishop david did all the talking i'm not really like into the talking to the pope kind of thing again i had been a priest for about 10 years and it was always me and my senior priest named father beshow he was always me and him me and him me and him he would do the talking i would carry the coats that was our rule okay he does the talking i carry coats eventually we ordained another priest okay several years after that and he was several years after i was ordained so we would go see the pope i would hold three coats basically what happened when we ordained him okay i never said a word all that time go in to see the pope and god in a miraculous way i'll spare you all the details because it's but as soon as we got there felt the peace of god because there were certain people in the meeting who knew me very well and very few people knew me but this person was close to the pope and said good things about me let me spare bury that part we go and tell the pope and the pope's like you're going to do this so i'm like like you know it's really it's up to you like whatever you think if you like you know like i'm cool either way and he's like you know and he tells me to do this and that we agree all the stuff and he agrees with the bishop okay do this you have my blessing and he signs the thing and then i'm like okay you know what i never said nothing to the pope but this is like this is like my one shining moment right here like i gotta step up like i'm gonna be like i'll be up by myself here like i gotta say something so i'm like and i gather all my courage okay and i'm like your holiness and i start on this little soliloquy okay and i'm like you know i've always felt like you know i haven't ever connected with your holiness like i haven't spoken but i've always felt this connection with your holiness because you ordained me on the anniversary of your 30th uh the 30th anniversary of your enthronement and you were so kind to me and you were so sweet to me and i've always looked up to your holiness and felt this connection and i really appreciate you trusting me with this i like poured out my heart and i'm not i'm not lying in front of god okay he looked at me he's sitting down i'm standing up and he i poured out my heart he looked he looked at me he looked at the other bishop and he looked at me he looked at this guy he said what did he say and i'm like uh thank you thank you so much thank you so much you know what i mean i need a coat carry is basically what i said exited stage left but the point is it was an act of god it was an act of god that god wanted to start the church and that's again the abbreviated version of the story god made his will very clear back to ezra verse 5. then the heads of the father's house of judah and benjamin the priests and the levites with all with all whose spirits god had moved arose to go up and build the house of the lord which is in jerusalem and all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold with goods and livestock and with precious things besides all that was willingly offered this was not an easy step for the people in ezra's time because again think about it they were capped they were they they were in their homeland they were taken by force so many people killed and they have finally just gotten settled in their new homeland and now here comes ezra saying let's go back there and rebuild i would say you know what thank you so much but no thank you we finally just got our life figured out here we finally just got a job we finally learned the language we finally got in great ingratiated in the culture you know what like it's too much work and on top of that going back there would have been a very traumatic experience like the last time we were there we saw people slaughtered we saw people's heads cut off and to blood in the street so it's not gonna be an easy thing to just go back there but that's not how they thought that's how you and i think because you and i think sorry i'm not saying you but you and i think selfishly we've been trained by the world to think selfishly like what's in it for me this will be hard for me but that's not how they thought that's not how kingdom builders think kingdom builders see beyond what they must give up they see what they will gain kingdom builders don't just look at what's this going to cost me kingdom builders look out of the opera and say what am i going to gain from this and what could be built from this it's like an economics where they told us to do cost-benefit analysis you're sitting there living in in in a foreign land and you think the cost of going to build is very high that's going to be a very high cost you know what exact opposite is true the cost the people who paid the highest price was the people who didn't go the people who sat and ignored the people who refused to get off their couches the people who said this is hard people said you know now's not the right time i got enough on my plate right now those people will see them in a little bit who paid the highest price but the benefit let's go to chapter two right here now these are the people of the province who came back from captivity those who came with zerubbabel where jeshua nehemiah saraya relia anyone who's pregnant looking for some names i got some options for you here mordecai bill shan mills par big varium and baina the people of perash 2172 the people of shepataya 372 the people of arah 775 the people of pa hatha moab of the people of jeshua and joab two thousand eight hundred and twelve this is verse one through six do you wanna know how many verses this continues for this list of names not ten not twenty not thirty not forty but fifty actually sixty verses later this list comes to conclusion and you say to yourself why in the world anyone sit and record all those names and the answer is very simple because these people did a great work and these people even though we are not going to read all their names right now if anyone's looking for some anyone's having trouble sleep tonight go to ezra chapter two okay put you straight to sleep but each of these people deserves to be recognized because they did something great and that's why the scriptures recognize them we're going to fast forward to the very end to verse 64. it says the whole assembly was 42 360. every single one was accounted for besides their male and female servants from whom there was 7 337 meaning they didn't round you never round to 37 okay that's the one number you never round to 337 and they had 200 men and women singers next verse verse 68 some of the heads of the father's houses when they came to the house of the lord which is in jerusalem offered freely for the house of god to erect it in its place according to their ability they gave to the treasury for the work 61 000 gold drachmas 5 000 meters of silver and 100 priestly garments in other words these people who came rolled up they weren't coming for a vacation they weren't coming to say what's in this for me or where to where do i get to they were coming to roll up their sleeves financially as well as physical work to build something great something that lasts something let's be honest we're going to talk about them today and they're going to be staying in the scriptures of god for the rest of time because of the work they did at that unique opportunity in history do you remember our three lessons lesson number one was that no one can do it alone lesson number two was focus on what you can do what you can do lesson number three was those who miss out really miss out you see all those playing out right here you think any one person is 60 verses for a reason because no one can rebuild the temple by themselves but together they could do it you think that any one person had enough resources enough bricks enough clay enough stone whatever it is to be able to build it no but when they pulled it all together they could and as far as those who missed out we don't know their names we're not talking about them now because they chose to sit on the sidelines let's fast forward now to nehemiah temple gets rebuilt eventually they start to worship in the temple but then oh no they make a discovery that even though the temple is back the city is missing walls and the city has no gates you say to yourself so what well think of it like a house you built your house but there's no door and there's no way to lock that door so basically anyone who wants to come in in the middle of the night and just pillage your house and steal your children is able to do so that was basically the way jerusalem was so this was an unacceptable state as far as nehemiah was concerned go to nehemiah chapter 1 verse 3 and they said to me the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach the wall of jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire if i'm nehemiah and i'm living all the way over there and not in that land you come to me and say the people of jerusalem over there their walls are broken down i would say we should pray for them we should absolutely pray for them and you know what we should tell everyone to pray for them and they would go back to my cozy little house lock the door watch tv with my family sip on some hot chocolate and say a nice prayer for them and go to sleep but that's not what nehemiah did nehemiah went to the king i was working in the court of the king and he went and he made a request and this is a big deal because back in the day you couldn't go into the king unless you were summoned but nehemiah said i have something that i want to request and if you go to the king and you ask for something and he denies your request he then may kill you on the spot they didn't value human life the way we did today the king was essentially god and if he doesn't like your request you are risking your life by even asking for a cup of water from the king nehemiah does that chapter 2 verse 5. and i said to the king if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight i ask you to send me to judah to the city of my father's tombs that i may rebuild it sign opportunity the kingdom of god is spiritual but they needed a physical building at this time and they needed someone to step up and say you know what i will take it on i will be strong i will be courageous and i will do it he goes to jerusalem the king the king approves it he goes to jerusalem he sees the people living there and struggling and he says this is a big job i can't do this all by myself so he gathers all the people verse 17. he says you see the distress we are in how jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire come let us build the wall of jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach so what he's saying is like guys it's embarrassed like when david said it's embarrassing that we live in nice houses and house of god is like this this is the city of god it doesn't have walls it's unacceptable there's one problem you can't do it by himself verse 18. and i told them the hand of my god which had been good upon me and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me so they said let us rise up and build then they set their hands to do this good work let us rise up and build now there were some people okay we'll kind of come back to this in a second there's some people who and he said let us rise up and build there are certain people not the majority but some people said that's stupid we don't want to we think you're kind of an idiot for doing it and we think this is a waste of your time and we think this project is too big for you and why you come in here and talk like nehemiah let it go there were certain people who did that we see them in verse 19. but when sandball at the horonite tobiah the ammonite official and geshem the arab heard of it they laughed at us and despised us and said what is this thing that you are doing will you rebel against the king so some people as there will always be said no we don't need to build a building no no no no we don't need to do this you may it's just be biting off more than you can chew we'll see what's going to happen to them in a second well one thing we know about them is those who miss out really miss out we'll come back to them but the nehemiah's response to them was great he said i answered them and said to them the god of heaven will make us prosper and we his servants will arise and build but you have no portion or right or claim in jerusalem i don't like to focus on the negative but i'm going to focus for one second that i won't come back to it you have no portion or right or claim in jerusalem let me let me give you the spoiler alert here nehemiah builds the walls we're going to see all the names of the people in just one second but we're not going to see these people's names and i think to myself i've told you guys this before one of the best ways that you can make good decisions for your life we did a whole series on this is you ask yourself am i going to regret this in 10 years and these three guys for the rest of their life walked by a wall in jerusalem and they knew that they had no reward for it they had no share and no portion and no claim and while everyone else will see their names in a second walk by and say we did that yes god worked through us and that stands here because we were a part of it we didn't do much but we did our part we held hands we did it together these three guys every single day they walked by and had a reminder of when they chose to ignore the clear command of god i ain't trying to make anyone feel guilty i'm just reading the passage right here let's go to the fun part let's go to the list of names you thought the ezra names were fun watch some of these names right here then elias said the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the sheep gate they consecrated hung its doors they built as far as the tower of the hundred and consecrated then as far as the tower of hanonel next to elijah the men of jericho built and next to them zach are the son of emery build also the sons of vanessa built the fish cave they laid its beams hung its doors with its bolts and bars next to them maramoth the son of urijah the son of kaz made repairs next to them meshulam the son of barakai the son of meshes a bell made repairs next to them zadok the son of bana zedak isn't that a bad guy from the superman movie might have been okay the son of bana made repairs next to them the tekoats made repairs that's five verses how many more verses like this 30 more verses like this so that's almost 100 verses between these two chapters nehemiah chapter 3 ezra chapter 2 of people who rolled up their sleeves name after name and did their part why because there's no one man shows when it comes to building the kingdom of god each one did their part they didn't focus on what they couldn't do they focused on what they could and as i said a minute ago those who missed out really missed out that's it for nehemiah that's it for us or ezra let's talk about us where do we fit in this this was their time god only called one group of people to build the walls around jerusalem that was the people of the tie nehemiah that was their opportunity it was in front of them those who accepted their names live forever those are rejected never have another opportunity to do that again same in the time of moses with the tabernacle same in the time of ezra and same in the time of me and you this is our time that god is calling us to do something great and like i said i want to say once in a lifetime like it's once in a lifetime but it's going to be once in my lifetime and it's probably going to be once in your lifetime especially if we're talking about you're staying here in arlington because you know what we're as close as it's going to get to washington dc the capital of the united states of america no one's ever going to church in washington d.c most of the churches don't want to get any closer than we are this is it this is the church that is going to be right outside the most influential city in this country and it's gonna be there past when i'm here when i'm gone and pass when you're here this is gonna be the thing that lasts past us and now i don't like this expression but i think it explains what i'm trying to say but i don't mean it this way the stars are all lined up the stars are all lined up the land came to us a piece of undeveloped land in arlington virginia if you're not from here there's no such thing as undeveloped land in arlington we found a piece of land cost a lot of money we were able to negotiate it down to exactly what we said if it's less than this if it's more than this we won't and we're able to pay in cash without any fundraising just based on our wise stewardship over the past however many years spent the past three years planning we have a per a great plan in place permitting is there we got a bank to agree to give us a mortgage to cover it all all we need to do everything is lined up all we need to do is collect the final one and a half million dollars to be able to close on this bad boy to be able to start construction next month to be able to finish construction by the end of next year to be able to have a permanent home not just a piece of the kingdom of god but a factory for the kingdom of god that will last i won't say forever it will last throughout our lifetime and for generations to come and it will last in such a way that it will be financially independent and self-sufficient so that we never have to talk about fundraising again but now is our time we are so close i know it's one and a half million sounds like so much but realize less than a year ago that number was seven million and here we are we're so close i know we can do it but i know there's no one man chose in the kingdom of god i know that there's many things that i can't do but there are some things that i can do and if i focus on that and you focus on that and you focus on that and i also know that those who miss out really miss out so now's the time now's the time now is the time someone came to me recently okay and was asking about the building it was saying like you know i'm waiting for the final push to make my donation and i'm like buddy this is the push where yeah okay like this is the push they're thinking like okay there's like the final like lock the doors we're not leaving here until we pass around the plate and many times this is the push and this is the end of it this is the last we're gonna talk about this next week as i'll explain it in a little bit we're not gonna even have the well next week we're gonna take the well out to the streets we're gonna do service projects and you know what this is the time we are going that we need everyone to do their part because we have a meeting with the bank scheduled for next week and then we have that meeting with the bank they're talking about they're going to want to talk about setting a closing date and as it stands right now we're not ready to be able to close on this loan and we're going to have to beg for mercy beg for an extension and they may say no problem and they may say okay that's totally fine and that's not going to affect your price but they may say it does affect the price for sure it'll affect the timeline and one of the things that i don't want to end up doing and you don't want this either i don't want to end up paying more and waiting longer for the exact same building i don't want to pay more and wait longer for the exact same building so now is the time now is the time to keep it in our prayers to ask the god of heaven who make us prosper okay that's what we believe and that's what we know now is the time that each one focus on what we can do whatever we can give we can give and now is the time that even if you've given already now is the time to spread the word now is the time to share the message with others because i promise you it was exactly like back to that moses story okay when moses was commanded to build the tabernacle okay we didn't read all the verses but he told god he's like god i don't know how i'm going to build it god told him just come down to the people and tell them god commanded me to build this and let the people get what they want to give and people came and said okay i have this and i have this and i have this and it got to the point that eventually moses had to say people stop giving we have enough and i've been telling you from the start is i feel that's my job here i don't have enough i can't do anything but all i'm doing is saying god commanded us to this and give people a chance to participate and speaking of which i'll tell you another story weeks ago i was uh doing like an online bible study for a group i don't know how to describe it basically it's someone sent me an email i didn't know maybe like three six months ago whatever it was and was saying like we are a group of uh of i don't say like experienced youth okay old people okay we're a group of you know advanced okay in age and we would like you to come and share with us so i don't know why i get emails like this all the time i always say no but somehow god you know i don't know i just i connected and i just said okay sure so i did like a bible study for them however many months ago and then another one and then just two weeks ago we had another bible study together and they are the ones who said we want to talk about death i said okay why you want to talk about death and they said because several of their group had passed away recently there's a group like i said people who had mostly retired but doctors engineers people who had very high positions very successful in life so i felt god telling me to preach about and speak about was legacy what is it you leave behind when you die because the truth of the matter is i said we're all going to die i said some of us you know maybe a little bit further along at you know on on the train tracks of life but i'm saying like we're all like i'm going to be there too so i'm speaking to myself i said my goal is to invest my life in something that outlives my life and i heard this said one time i said it said it's not a sin to live rich but it is a sin to die rich i don't mean sin that way but let me say that a little bit better so there's nothing wrong with people who live their lives rich that's a blessing from god that's a good thing but i don't want to die rich i want to take what god has given me and i want to invest in something that lives beyond me and i was sharing this with them and i was like this close to saying like hey guys we're fundraising for a building but i'm gonna be honest i'll be honest i didn't i chickened out i may have thrown in like a pray for us or whatever it is i chickened down i know some people are glaring to me like i don't want to because believe me i'm telling you you should share it i'm the first one i hate talking about money and somehow from a priest it just i don't like it then the next day i felt very guilty and i felt god convicting me saying you're standing in front of these people and you're telling them to go out of their comfort zones and share with their friends and you're sitting there and i threw you in a loop and you didn't just tap it in it's okay you know what for the sake of the people that i'm standing in front of i'm going to do it so i reached out to the head of this group and i sent him this long email which like the first 30 percent was an apology in the last 40 was an apology okay which is like i'm really sorry and like forgive me and don't feel pressure and i know i'm being and i just like this is just the way i am okay i hate asking people for money about anything and i said you know we're doing this fundraising and if you think it's a good idea then maybe we can just share it with the group you know and just let them know he responded back to me same day said let me make this easy for you god told me the exact same thing and i already sent out an email after we finished the call okay before you even sent anything are you sent out an email people are sending me their checks i'm gonna send you a check okay in a week or something like that i can't tell you how much that touched me i can't tell you how much that touched me it touched me because those are people who get it because those are people who are all across the world who are probably never going to set foot in this building who are never going to be here amongst us but they believe in the mission and they say you know what what you guys are doing stsa what you guys are doing at stsa you are building the kingdom of god and i believe in that mission and i want to share an inheritance in that and these are people who are never going to stand here and preach a sermon people who are never going to teach sunday school class people are never going to stack a chair or unstack a chair but i'm telling you i believe it with all my heart that we pray for people like this we pray for all the people who are giving all across because these people have just as much reward in what we're doing as me and you because stsa has never been about one person stsa is not about me it's not about you stsa is about the mission that god wants to do and he called us back in 2012 to start a church that can reveal the beauty of our ancient faith in the midst of this modern world that can reveal the depth of our orthodoxy in a way without some of the cultural impediments and barriers that stop so many people from experiencing it he called us to do it and certain group of people rose up 10 years ago and said we will respond and now he's calling us to take the next step with this building esther chapter 4 verse 14. i want you to to read this and say maybe god is speaking to us it says for if you remain silent this is basically when when mordecai esther's cousin was telling her that the people are in trouble and god puts you as a queen at this time to do something about it for if you remain completely silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the jews from another place but you and your father's house will perish yet who knows who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this i believe that to be true right here and right now that we here today whether you're sitting here in arlington whether you're over in leesburg or washington from the comfort of your home god brought you here today and he brought you here to hear this message to hear the need and it's up to you how to respond but i will tell you this the 10 years from now 10 years from now 10 years from now there is gonna be a building here in arlington and it's gonna be operational and it's gonna be beautiful and it's gonna be packed with people on sunday morning who are experiencing the beauty of orthodox worship in a way that they can connect with that is transformational be a place where people experience limitless acceptance an authentic community it is going to be a place where people not just during church but even after church that the love spills into the streets and there is a genuine love for the community that impacts the community for generations to come it's going to be the center of operations that that serve people all over the world and helps build churches everywhere and what i don't want but i don't want is to walk by it every sunday and say man i wish i had a part of that man i wish i'd done a little bit more because god is going to do it just like i said esther god is going to do i had no doubt about that the question is that when the story of stsa is written and the names are all there is your name going to be part of it is your name going to be on that list i don't want anyone here to regret this opportunity so i'm gonna leave you back with this verse right here consider now that the lord has chosen you the lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary be strong and do it we're done talking about the building next week like i said we have a special week we are going to not talk about what it is to be the church we're gonna go out and we're gonna be the church okay we're gonna have the liturgy as usual and then afterwards we got four service projects not service projects impact projects we're gonna go impact the community we have two here in arlington we got one in leesburg and we got one in dc you're gonna go to the stsa app hopefully and sign up for one of those projects we're done talking about it you would say why next week is like the most important week that's the week before you have the in the bank you know what enough is enough we're done talking about it after next week we're going to start a new series that has nothing to do with building has nothing to do with fundraising has nothing to do this is it we're done talking about it now it's time to go live it out but like i said this is our chance this is our chance this is our chance that if god has put on our hearts to build this thing to do our part to donate if we haven't donated spread the word to whoever it is that we can and to pray that the god of heaven would make us prosper and we as servants will arise and build let's stand together for a prayer in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit one god amen heavenly father lord who are we we're not worthy lord that you would call us to do something this special for you but you brought us here at this time you brought us here today lord to hear this message and we your servants will arise and build this we can't do it on our own lord but together we know that you will work through us so i pray lord for everyone who's hearing this message everyone whose heart you're stirring right now that we would respond in a way that honors you and that befits your majesty and your glory thank you so much lord for giving us a chance to do something special for your name we your servants will arise and build accept our prayers in the name of your son with the prayers and intercessions of all your saints hear us as we pray thankfully our father who arts in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one in christ jesus our lord for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory

Channel: STSA Church

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Id: rVJlWt5UZM8

Length: 51min 14sec (3074 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 20 2021