Hope in Discouragement

And we're now going to do what we do as part of our service.

We believe prayer is a very key part of what it means to be part of the body of Christ,

to be the church.

And so I'm going to enter into the time what we call our pastoral prayer.

And really what this prayer time is, it's not a time for you just to kind of zone out

because you've had a long week.

But actually let me encourage you right now to actually re-center your minds.

To re-center your minds and to close your eyes and we're going to pray together to the living God

and to realize what a privilege this is.

So don't just listen to what I'm saying, but actually in your heart and even verbally,

you can just pray with me and amen what I'm going to pray.

So let's bow our heads and pray to our Father.

Father, we were made for you.

In your presence there is fullness of joy.

And the one thing that we ask, and this is what we seek,

that we may dwell in your house,

that we may learn to have you and your presence at the center of our community,

at the center of our individual lives,

at the center of our families,

at the center of our schedules,

at the center of every part of our lives.

We want you to be the number one in that.

Because you're the fountain of life, Lord.

You're the source of all goodness.

You're the one who sees the end from the beginning.

You're the first and the last.

The galaxy is in your hands.

Our political situation is in your hands.

Our economic situation is in our hands.

Our relational situations are in your hands.

And you are good.

And you are faithful.

So we come to you this morning asking for more of you.

We want your face, not just your hand.

We're asking that you would teach us what it means to truly live by faith.

Rather than having one hand on you and one hand on our plans,

one hand on the comforts that we seek,

one hand on all the other things we chase after.

Lord, we want you to recenter us on you.

We want to pray right now for those who are discouraged.

Who feel discouraged by even your own choices and responses in this last week.

Discouraged by your lack of faith.

Discouraged that you gave in to porn again.

Discouraged you got angry again.

Discouraged that in your family relationships,

there's still things that haven't been solved.

Discouraged that sickness is still present in your body or in those you love.

Father, lift our eyes up to see you.

You're the God who lifts up the downcast.

Give us godly grit to get back up and see that you're the God of all hope,

who fills us abundantly with all hope.

We also want to pray, Father, for sons and daughters and their bazaar that's going on this week.

Lord, thank you so much for the 36 ladies who attended just the other day.

And Father, we ask for more.

We ask for those women who are so broken in so many ways

that they would experience your love through this time

in a far deeper and richer way than just through receiving some clothes, Lord.

Would you melt their defense mechanisms?

Would you open them up to see new hope in you?

Would you use Julie and the team to be a light to them over the coming days and weeks?

And would you develop really significant relationships even through this week?

Father, we want to pray for the Nepalese community in our city.

We live in a divided city which is divided along political lines,

but it's also divided ethnically and racially.

And we ask that you would restore a unity in this city.

We pray for the churches in Hong Kong,

that we would demonstrate and reflect the fact that in your gospel

you bring together people from every tribe, language, people group.

And Father, we thank you that in VBS this week

we have 10 Nepalese kids coming who don't know you.

Lord, we pray that you would be their hope.

We pray that they would come and see you this week

and them and their families would turn to you

and find hope in the living God.

And Father, we want to pray and thank you

for Janet and Charlie who got married just this last week.

We ask your blessing on them.

We pray that you would work through the challenges and the trials

with the visa process going through.

And Lord, we thank you for Dina and Hernando

that you have provided both of them with visas.

Lord, thank you that in the wait you are faithful

and we can trust you and you are good.

And we ask all these things knowing that you are a gracious, faithful God.

Amen.

So this morning we have a very exciting thing

that's going to happen this morning

because we have somebody who is going to be speaking to us

for the first time.

Gary is going to come and speak to us.

And part of one of the things that, yeah, let's have a, woo!

One of the things that as a community we want to be doing,

we're all about making disciples who then make other disciples.

And we want to be raising up other people within the congregation

to both preach and lead in all kinds of different ways.

And so this morning is just a great opportunity

and just really excited about Gary to do this.

Gary, if you don't know Gary, you should know Gary

because he's an amazing member of our community.

He's got two amazing kids,

one of whom has just been sent off,

Russell, to university in Canada.

He's been very involved with helping out,

serving with youth and with hospitality

in a whole load of different directions.

So I'm just really excited for Gary

to come and bring God's message to us this morning.

So I'm going to invite, first of all,

before Gary speaks to his Jefferson

to come and read God's word

and then we'll hear from Gary.

The scripture reading comes from Haggai chapter 2.

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

Please follow along and your bulletins are on the screen.

The seventh month on the 21st day of the month,

the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.

Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheatiel,

the governor of Judah,

and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadech, the high priest,

and to all the remnant of the people,

and say,

Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?

How do you see it now?

Is it not as nothing in your eyes?

Yet now be strong,

O Zerubbabel,

declares the Lord.

Be strong, O Joshua,

son of Jehozadech,

the high priest.

Be strong,

all you people of the land,

declares the Lord.

Work for I am with you,

declares the Lord of hosts,

according to the covenant that I made with you

when you came out of Egypt.

My spirit remains in your midst,

fear not.

For thus says the Lord of hosts,

yet once more,

in a little while,

I will shake the heavens and the earth,

and the sea,

and the dry land.

And I will shake all nations,

so that the treasures of all nations shall come in.

And I will fill this house of glory,

says the Lord of hosts.

The silver is mine,

and the gold is mine,

declares the Lord of hosts.

The latter glory of this house

shall be greater than the former,

says the Lord of hosts.

And in this place,

I will give peace,

declares the Lord of hosts.

This is the word of law.

Wow, what a privilege

to be able to share God's word with you today.

But before I start,

I just want to open with a word of prayer,

so please pray along with me.

Our God,

I just thank you for your word.

Your word,

which is as relevant today

as it was thousands of years ago.

And I just pray that as your word

comes to us today,

that I may not stand in the way of your word,

but that our hearts and our minds

will be open to receive your word.

Speak to us now, I pray.

In your precious name, amen.

So, the Old Testament,

if you're like me,

you might want to read the Bible

and you read the Old Testament,

you read the New Testament,

and sometimes you like the New Testament

a little bit better than the Old Testament.

Why is that?

Well, a lot of the times,

the New Testament's very easy to understand.

Little concepts just seem to come straightforward,

and you understand it pretty straightforward.

But even if you read the Old Testament,

you sort of see stories,

and you see things and some words,

and, you know,

you might not see that things come to you right away.

But what I've learned is

the Old Testament actually has its way of speaking to us.

It takes a little bit more work,

a little bit more thought,

and that's what we're going to see today.

We're going to continue on.

Last week, we started a four-week sermon

that Chris started on the book of Haggai.

And again, that's in the Old Testament.

And the book of Haggai

focuses last week's message

about rebuilding the temple of God.

And last week,

Chris preached about

how God's people are sort of busy

with rebuilding their own temples,

their own houses,

focusing on their own priorities

as opposed to building the temple of God.

So last week,

hopefully we were challenged

and thought,

well, let me not focus on my individual things,

my individual security,

my individual success,

my individual reputation,

but instead on God's temple,

which really is God's presence.

So hopefully last week,

we got challenged.

And maybe some of you felt that challenge

and said,

okay, I want to really focus

this week on having more

of God's presence in my life.

Whether that means opening my Bible

and doing a little bit more reading,

or maybe that's spending

a little bit more time in prayer,

or maybe just realizing

and realizing God's presence is around us.

A lot of times,

we start with good intentions.

And I think that's the way

the human body is.

We have great intentions.

We get motivated.

We hear something exciting.

We get on fire.

And then we want to do something.

The problem is,

it's sometimes hard to sustain it.

Because human nature,

it's very difficult

to keep on sustaining that momentum.

Sometimes we'll start off,

but we don't finish.

We start off high,

and we start to drop after that.

And what you're going to see this week,

in just chapter two,

you're going to see Haggai,

who talked last week,

as Chris shared with us,

excited the people.

Let's start building the temple of God.

And literally,

in Haggai,

from Haggai 1,

chapter 1,

to Haggai chapter 2,

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

one month later,

you start to hear rumblings

of saying this discouragement.

And they wanted to get excited

about building God's temple,

but now it's starting to rumble

and say,

I don't know if it's going

the way we thought it was going.

So,

let's,

God knows this.

The good thing about God

is He knows our human nature,

and He knows this,

which is why He gave us

Haggai chapter 2.

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

The thing is,

Satan also knows this.

And Satan's two most,

I call,

tactics that he uses

to disrupt our relationship

with God,

to separate us from God,

are pride

and discouragement.

Pride in terms of

just puffing us up,

or discouragement

and bringing us down.

And that's why God

gave us chapter 2

to really help us

overcome discouragement.

And when we talk

about discouragement,

it really is a feeling.

Here's the thing,

I actually struggle

with feelings.

Why?

Because I grew up

in a Chinese home.

In our Chinese home,

we don't talk about

feelings very much.

I don't know of your homes now.

It might be different nowadays,

but when I was growing up

as a child,

my parents never said,

I love you, son.

Right?

They were more focused.

I don't care how you feel.

I care about what you do,

what you accomplish.

That's what we care about,

not how you feel.

And feeling's a difficult subject

because, you know,

everybody's different.

We handle feelings different.

You have people who are shy.

You have people that are outgoing.

You have people that are sensitive.

You have people that are hard as rock.

So feelings are sometimes

difficult to talk about

with people

because you don't know

how they respond.

But I want us to take a look

at this picture

about feelings.

What do you sort of feel

when you see these pictures?

And today,

we're going to be talking

about discouragement.

And really,

discouragement

is the loss of confidence,

the loss of enthusiasm,

being disappointed,

being disheartened,

or even depression.

depression.

The World Health Organization

states that they believe

there's about 300 million people

in the world

that actually struggle

with depression.

So how do we overcome

this discouragement?

How do we overcome

this depression?

How do we press on?

How do we keep going?

Well, there's three main points.

I'm going to be covering

three main points today.

And those three main points

is, first of all,

be honest with ourself

and our situation.

Then as our scripture says,

be strong.

And in be strong,

there's three minor points.

Remembering that God is faithful.

I am with you

and by my spirit.

And three,

the third one is,

be aware

that a future house

more far glorious

is awaiting us.

So let's get started.

The first point

in overcoming discouragement,

being honest.

What does it mean

to be honest with ourself?

Well, if you look at verse 3

in our scripture passage today,

it says,

Who of you is left

who saw the house

in its former glory?

How does it look to you now?

Does it not seem like you

to you nothing?

So Haggai is asking

these questions

to the people of Israel

who were, again,

looking at rebuilding

this temple.

Now you've got to remember

what they were thinking about.

They just came

from seeing Solomon's temple

that was built

and where they had

God's presence

and that was destroyed.

Solomon's temple

stood there

for 400 years

in Jerusalem.

And during that time,

over half

of the Old Testament

was written

while they had

the Solomon of Temple,

the Temple of Solomon.

And if you see,

it was like

the crown jewel.

If you read the scriptures,

it talked about

Solomon's temple

being built

with the cedars

of Lebanon.

Gold-plated,

adorned,

huge,

something to be marveled at.

At one point,

there was 153,000

skilled laborers

working on Solomon's temple.

So you can imagine

how amazing it was

to have God's presence

in Solomon's temple

and where they were

worshiping God

in that temple.

And then all of a sudden,

these people

were rebuilding

the new temple.

And they saw the footprint

and they started

to compare.

And they said,

well, this temple

is not as glorious,

not as beautiful,

not as impressive

as what we used to have.

And those older people

that saw the past temple

that were comparing it

to this new temple

were starting to say,

what is the point

of even building

this temple?

And really,

how many of us

get discouraged

because we compare

to things

that we used to have

or think

that we should have

or things

that we've done

or things

that we should do?

Discouragement

can come in

just because

we compare.

And if we look

at our hearts,

we have to see,

are we comparing?

And because we're comparing

and thinking

we should have more

or thinking

we should do more,

we sort of get discouraged

as to what's the point

of even trying.

If we also think

of not just comparing

and how the power

of comparing

can prevent us

from doing

the things

that God has called us

to do,

but also being honest

with ourselves,

sometimes we get discouraged

by the speed

and the progress

of things

or the results

that we see.

Now,

speed is very important,

especially we talk about

here in Hong Kong.

Everything moves fast

in Hong Kong.

That's one thing

I learned coming here

11 years ago.

You walk a little bit faster.

You sort of,

when you sit down

in a restaurant,

you expect the service

to come a little faster.

When you're waiting

in the queue

for the ATM,

you expect the person

to punch in his code

very quickly.

You know,

so I understand

the speed

is very important,

but you can also imagine

if we are serving God,

and especially when

these people were in fire

to build God's temple,

they might be concerned

about how fast

that is being done.

The construction

of this temple

was being done

during the seventh month,

and during the seventh month,

there were a lot

of festivals

at that time.

And one of the rules

of during the festival time,

you cannot do work

during festivals.

There was the Feast of Trumpets

on the tenth day

of Atonement.

They also had

on the fifteenth day

the Feast of Booths,

where the whole population

of the Israelites

would move out

of their homes

and move into

leafy shelters

and for about that,

in memory

of the Exodus wanderings.

And for that whole month,

about half of the month

that they had,

they probably could not

do any work

on the temple.

So you can imagine

how some people

were probably frustrated

because they want

to build this temple.

They were on fire.

They said,

let's build this temple again.

And for half the month,

they couldn't work on it.

And they look at it

and say,

wow, it's not being,

it's not progressing

very quickly.

And sometimes,

ourselves,

we get discouraged

because of the speed

of how things are happening.

Right?

The rest of our life,

sometimes,

the rest of life

gets busy.

We get on fire

and we take up

this ministry

and we want to do

this good work,

but the rest of life

gets so busy

and we don't have time

to do it.

Whether it's our family

or work,

and suddenly you get

discouraged about the work

that you've taken on,

just nothing seems

to be accomplished.

If we look at that,

maybe individually,

we are praying

and earnestly wanting

God to change us,

but we don't see

that happening

very quickly.

Or corporately,

in our church,

maybe we get excited

by the 2020 vision

of 225,

and we try to share

the gospel,

but we look around

our sanctuary

and we still see

empty pews,

and we don't see

the results,

and we sort of

get discouraged

and say,

what's the point

of keep on trying?

But again,

what we're going

to see is that

if we first want

to overcome

this discouragement,

we have to be honest

with ourselves

and see what's

the present situation.

What's in our hearts?

What are we feeling?

What are we comparing?

And what are we

actually looking at?

That's the first point,

being honest

with ourselves.

The second point,

then,

is to be strong.

And when,

in the scriptures,

it says,

be strong,

the first part

I want to cover

is remember

that God is faithful.

Verse 4 says,

but now be strong,

Zerubbabel,

declares the Lord.

Be strong,

Joshua,

son of Jehozadak,

the high priest.

Be strong,

all you people

of the lands,

declares the Lord.

So when the Israelites

heard this from Haggai,

they would have recognized

the call to be strong.

Now,

the call to be strong

is quite unique

because it's mentioned

three times.

And it parallels

a passage

that we have seen

before in the past

because in 1st Joshua,

verses 5 to 9,

it also reads the same

where it says,

the Lord was speaking

to Moses

after he died.

Speaking to Joshua.

As I was with Moses,

so I will be with you.

I will never leave you

nor forsake you.

Be strong and courageous

because you will lead

these people

to inherit the lands

I swore to their ancestors

to give them.

Be strong and very courageous.

Be careful to obey

all the law

my servant Moses gave you.

Keep this book of the law

always on your lips.

Meditate it day and night

so that you may be careful

to do everything written in it.

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous.

These were the words

that God spoke to Joshua

to be strong and courageous

before the Israelites

were going to enter

into the promised land.

So the Israelites

would have recognized

that call to be strong

three times.

They would have seen

that parallel.

And what they would have

remembered

is how the Israelites

were about to enter

into the land of Canaan.

And they would have remembered

how the report said

that Canaan is beautiful

flowing with milk and honey.

But the people there

are big.

They're strong.

They're giants.

Their cities are fortified.

They have high walls.

So if we're going to go

into Canaan

it's going to be very difficult.

They're going to remember

the stories that were told

to them of what happened

to the Israelites

when they went into

the land of Canaan.

A few weeks ago

Kevin talked about

how the grandfathers

would sit together

with everybody over dinner

and talk about the stories

of what the Israelites

went through.

And they would have shared

the stories of David

and Goliath.

How a shepherd boy

could defeat a giant

in the Philistine army.

They would have shared

the stories

about the fall of Jericho.

How the Israelites

marched around

the city of Jericho.

A fortified wall

six times.

And on the seventh time

blew some trumpets

and made a lot of shouting.

And suddenly

these great walls

sort of crumbled and fell.

they would have remembered

how God was faithful

to them

and how God

helped them

through their most

difficult time.

It's so easy though

to forget

God's faithfulness

because it's easy

to forget

and let discouragement

creep in.

It's human nature.

It's human nature

to forget about

things that we know

and to just focus

on what we're feeling

and dealing with

right now.

And a lot of times

we can sort of

think well

the Israelites

should have known.

They were just

let out of Egypt.

They saw the plagues.

They saw the sea

wide open.

Why should they

be discouraged?

All the stories

that they went through

they should know

that God

should be faithful.

Aren't these Israelites

silly

to forget that?

But again

I think we can also

fall into that

same trap

because if we look

at everything we know

from the scriptures

today

how Jesus died

on the cross

and how he was risen

again

don't you think

the God that can

overcome death

can help us

in all of our situations?

Don't we think

the God who died

on the cross

and freed us

from all sin

can overcome sin

even in our lives

today?

So it's very easy

for this discouragement

to take over.

Sometimes we just

don't remember

God's faithfulness.

We don't remember

what is written

in the Bible.

but sometimes

we don't also

just need to rely

on what's written

in the Bible.

Even if we look

at our own lives

I'm sure we have

our own stories.

Our own stories

of God's faithfulness

in our life.

How maybe

someone's lost

their job

and God was faithful

and gave them

another job

or had an even

better opportunity

for them.

Maybe how

we were

discouraged

and we didn't know

how we were going

to pay this bill

but all of a sudden

we've got some money

from somewhere

and we were able

to overcome that.

Again there's many

stories in our lives

in our friends lives

in our family's lives

where God has shown

that he is faithful

that we can remember.

But you know

this call

to be strong

is not just

the call

to just toughen up.

It's a call

it's a fight

to remember

God's faithfulness

and to persevere

so that we can

continue to do

what he called

us to do.

And that call

is to worship him

and to serve him.

Point number B

to be strong

is I am with you.

Verse 4 says

be strong

all you people

of the land

declares the Lord

and work

for I am with you

declares the Lord

Almighty.

Do we remember

who this God is

that says

he is going

to be with us?

This God

is the creator

the almighty

powerful God

the designer

of the universe

who says

he will not forsake us.

When we follow him

and things get difficult

whether it's

sharing the gospel

with your colleagues

or friends

or even family members

or even your parents

maybe it's parenting

and you have kids

and you see

it's

this is impossible

I don't see how

my children

are not listening to me

we're arguing

all the time

I'm ashamed

of what the words

that flow out

in our discussions

and we don't see

any hope

maybe it's in health

or sickness

and we have somebody

who's overcoming

a sickness

and we just seem

like there's no hope

and it gets so difficult

and we say

what are we supposed

to do?

You don't understand

the amount of pain

the amount of suffering

that I'm going through

how can I not

be discouraged?

Well I remember

a poem

and again

growing up

in the 80s

and being a Christian

there was a poem

and there was a thing

called

Sands in the Footprint

and this poem

talked about

one night

that a person

had a dream

and across the dark sky

flashed scenes

of my life

for each scene

I noticed

there was two sets

of footprints

in the sand

one belonging

to me

and one set

of footprints

belonging to my Lord

I looked back

at the footprints

in the sand

and I noticed

that at many times

along the path

of my life

especially at the

very lowest

and saddest times

there was only

one set of footprints

this really troubled me

so I asked

the Lord about it

I don't understand

God

when I needed you

the most

you said

you would never

leave me

he whispered

my precious child

I love you

and will never

leave you

never ever

during your trials

and testing

when you saw

only one set

of footprints

it was then

that I carried you

so during

the most

difficult times

sometimes

all we are

going to get

is I am

with you

I am

with you

the almighty

God

is with us

isn't that enough

isn't this creator

of the universe

saying that he is

with us

through the most

difficult

the most troubling

time

isn't that enough

but you might say

then do I still

just have to grin

and bear it

Gary

be strong

I know

God is faithful

I know

he is with me

do I just

grin and bear it

point three

or see

it says

by my spirit

verse five

says

this is what

I coveted

with you

when you came

out of Egypt

and my spirit

remains among you

do not fear

the Holy Spirit

is with us

we don't need

to fear

but you might

wonder

what does it

mean

what does it

look like

to have the

Holy Spirit

with us

what does it

mean that

the spirit

is with us

well we get

some glimpses

of that

from the scripture

again

Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

talked about

the Holy Spirit

coming down

from heaven

onto the disciples

and onto the people

and they're

talking in different

tongues

and being able

to be on fire

and just so motivated

we get some glimpses

of that

but I think

the real picture

of when the Holy Spirit

is with us

is when we realize

that we are weak

that we can find

strength in God

and not in ourselves

through our weakness

when we fix

our eyes on him

and meditate

on God

and see

the type of God

who is with us

and how he can face

and we can face

any situation

in front of us

and that's how

we have the hope

and power

to keep on going

Zechariah 4.6

says

this is the word

of the Lord

to Zerubbabel

not by might

nor by power

but my spirit

says the Lord

of hosts

now this

verse is supposed

to be comforting

I know

but I also find

it difficulty

in it

because

our human nature

is to be

self-sufficient

this verse

says

not by power

not by might

but by my spirit

but when I look

at situations

guess what I want

to do

I don't want

to use

the spirit

I want to use

my might

I want to use

my control

my ability

my reasoning

how can I solve

this problem

how can I overcome

this

right

but maybe

God is putting

us through this

so that we can

learn to depend

on him

to depend

on his spirit

we don't have

to do this

with our own

strength

God's going

to give us

his spirit

and when we

focus and fix

our eyes on him

and that strength

is with us

he will really

allow us

to trust in him

to lean on him

to really give him

control

and not to control

things ourselves

and isn't it

comforting to know

that this creator

this almighty God

can redeem

any situation

do we doubt

his intent

his power

this is the same

God that created

us

our bodies

if you want to see

how good and powerful

a creator is

can you imagine

designing

and building

something today

like the human body

just think about

the digestive system

how complex

the way

having the enzymes

having the different

parts

the pancreas

and its role

the stomach

and then when you

think about

the nervous system

how did God

design the nervous

system

synapses

that we're able

to transfer

everything through

from feeling

up into the brain

think about DNA

talk about programming

by Pascal

or by

object oriented

programming

God programmed

with DNA

DNA

and how he is able

to encode

how every

each cell

is going to

respond

based on that

DNA

this is the God

that we are

are worshipping

he's in control

he can design

things

there's nothing

that he cannot

do

if we ever

in doubt

think about

the universe

think about

how it's spinning

out of control

and how fast

it's traveling

God is in control

of all of this

so we can be

confident in God

because in verse 8

it says

the silver is mine

and the gold is mine

declares the Lord

of hosts

what that means

is all the resources

in the earth

are his

they're at his

disposal

for us

to help us

overcome any

situation

to help us

persevere

because they are

his

even though

they may be

in the possessions

of kingdoms

governments

business people

they ultimately

belong to our God

and they are

at his disposal

this is why

we want to be

strong and persevere

so that we can

place God

and the worship

of him

at the center

of our lives

and this is what

the temple

in the Old Testament

is all about

this idea of just

it's not more than

it's a lot more

than just the building

we persevere

because this is what

God calls us to do

to keep sharing

the gospel

to keep loving

our CG members

to keep meeting

up with him

to keep fighting

sin

because we know

the power to change

is in God's hand

we can trust him

because he's with us

that's how

we can be strong

the last point

is be aware

be aware

that a future

house of glory

verse 9 says

the latter glory

of this house

shall be greater

than the former

says the Lord

of hosts

this references

the coming glory

of the temple

and we're talking

about the temple

we know the temple

yes it's talking

about an old building

where God's presence

used to be

but in John chapter 2

John 2 · chapter mention

Jesus references

the temple

as Jesus'

body himself

when Jesus clears

the temple

in John

he says in chapter 2

verse 19

Jesus answered them

destroy this temple

and in three days

I will raise it up

the Jews said

it's taken 46 years

to build this temple

and you will raise it up

in three days

but he was speaking

about the temple

of his body

so when they were

building this lowly temple

compared to Solomon's temple

could they have ever imagined

that 500 years later

Jesus was going to come

and be the next temple

that was going to be rebuilt

and with his temple

his body

that was going to be broken

and with that

bringing the forgiveness

of sins

and the repairing

of the relationship

with God

because in the past

before Jesus' body

and the temple

they just had

a physical building

where God's presence

was in

and in order

to come to God

to have communion

with God

they had to have

the high priests

come in

and they had to have

sacrifices

and the Christians

at that time

or the Israelites

at that time

could only look

from the outside

and see God was there

but they couldn't

really get close to him

but then

because they had

the need of the high priest

because they had to have

the atonement

but this new glory

was going to be

so much better

than that former

in most religions

normally you have

a God

that is far apart

and you have

worshipers

you don't have

a God

that comes down

and reaches

and comes down

to the people

or you have

to do things

to prove

you're worthy

of that God

the worthy

to be in his presence

worthy

to be able

to be a part

or worship him

or to have him

as our God

but when we talk

about our religion

this Israel

Israel did not

God himself

instead of saying

up in heaven

came down

in the form of Jesus

to give full access

to him

Jesus temple

at that time

no one could have

imagined

what was about

to happen

in the future

can you imagine

even the disciples

with him

seeing Jesus

seeing him crucified

could not imagine

the future glory

of his temple

look at today

if you remember

we were at

a small building

being rebuilt

thousands of years ago

to today

what's God's temple

look like today

we have churches

all around the world

worshiping

in all types

of languages

just like this today

look at how

glorious

his temple

has become

from a small

building

to where

now people

can worship

God

and to have

communion

with God

all around

the world

and to be able

to draw strength

with God

isn't that

a beautiful sight

fast forward

to where we

think it's going

there's even

more of a

glorious temple

that is waiting

for us

because God

didn't want

his people

to be discouraged

he wanted

to give access

to him

so that we

don't have

to be

discouraged

but we can

feel his

presence

with us

always

but here's

the funny thing

so we had

a temple

we had

God

in our

presence

then you

had

sort of

Jesus

come

and be

with us

and then

we had

him

crucified

and then

we had

the Holy

Spirit

so then

we had

Jesus

with us

but you

know what

the new

temple

is

the funny

twist

of things

that are

happening

now

that we

could have

never

imagined

is now

we become

the temple

of God

because

Jesus

comes

inside

of us

it says

we are

now the

location

of God's

presence

can you

imagine

what that

means

just think

about that

before this

God

that used

to be

in heaven

so separated

then he

came down

in a

physical

building

then he

came in

the form

of Jesus

and now

he resides

in each

and every

one of us

we

suddenly

become

this

temple

of God

and when

we

carry

God's

presence

wow

what's

the impact

of that

carrying

God's

presence

in each

and every

one

of us

does

that

change

how

we

think

about

things

I

don't

know

if

we

can

even

comprehend

that

because

our

thinking

is so

limited

because

God's

presence

would

motivate

us

to do

different

things

you can

imagine

how

your

daily

walk

with

God

can

change

if you

realize

that

God's

presence

is

in you

when

you

realize

you

are

carrying

God's

presence

do you

feel

more

not

fearful

to share

his

gospel

and his

word

would you

not

feel

challenged

when

difficulties

come

your way

do you

not feel

you will

not feel

ashamed

when you

know

you carry

God's

presence

in you

with you

all the

time

I

just

think

we

don't

understand

and realize

the

ramifications

of what

it means

to carry

God's

presence

with us

but again

there's still

this is what

Colossians

we read

we had

a sermon

series on

Colossians

it says

Christ in

you

the hope

of glory

Christ

is inside

of us

and this

is the

hope

of the

future

glory

and finally

when we

see

Christ

a new

creation

in the

temple

he also

talks

that one

day

we're

going to

see

Christ

face

to

face

just

like

throughout

these

whole

thousands

of years

we could not

understand

how God's

presence

was

when he was

in heaven

when he was

with us

in the

garden

Eden

when he

was in

heaven

when he

was in

the temple

when he

was in

Jesus

when he

is in

us

now

to when

one day

we're going

to see

him

face

to face

to worship

him

face

to face

again

this is

another

future

glory

that I

think

we cannot

comprehend

right now

we cannot

understand

being face

to face

buddy

buddies

with God

can you

imagine

that

this is

what the

future

glory

we have

to look

forward

to

so I

know

we all

have

different

stories

I want

to talk

about

my

story

a little

bit

because

I think

this

Christian

journey

it's

going to

be filled

with ups

and downs

we know

that

but

throughout

that

journey

we want

to never

lose

fact

that we

have a

calling

the calling

to worship

God

and the

calling

to serve

him

no matter

how

difficult

the situation

can be

because

we do

run

through

I hear

difficult

stories

that sometimes

it's easy

to forget

that calling

we don't

want to

worship

God

we don't

want to

serve

him

and I

can

understand

situations

get

difficult

I look

at my

life