Built Together, A Holy Temple

 8th Sunday after Pentecost
July 18, 2021
Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

Isa 57:14-21 

Ps 22:23-31

Eph 2:11-22 

Mark 6:30-44

 

Welcome this morning, to a special Sunday in a string of Sundays!!  We have special guests here this morning as the first in about a month of speakers and friends who we pray for and support as partners in ministry around the world.

 

The readings this morning, once again, are providential for the timing of our life together and the work that is being completed around us.  I’m sure you noticed the new stone, and see the new windows behind me.  It’s amazing that our readings refer to being built stone on stone as a Temple for the Holy Spirit this morning!  Don’t know if you caught that reference in the Ephesians reading.  I’ll come back to it.

 

Just about 4 years ago, Lawrence and Jody came and saw this place for the very first time and God planted in them a vision that has come, stone by stone, to fruition!  To our confounded amazement, the money has come in, from a myriad of ways and means both natural and supernatural, but always from God’s gracious hand and through the sacrifice of this family of God together to move forward into God’s destiny for REZ.

 

Now, as we near, the completion of the renovations of the land, we turn our attentions more fully to the inside of the building and to the work of God that this building and property enable for us all to do together!

 

We are planted in the midst of a large Jewish community, three doors west of an Orthodox Synagogue named Aish, “fire” in Hebrew!  God’s sense of humor is unending! 

 

We believe that God has placed us here on this Holy Hill to be a light to the city, Greenwood Village, to Denver Metro, to the State, the Nation and even to the world.  I self describe us as a HOBBIT Church, small in stature but with a big, hairy foot print!  4 other churches currently meet and use this facility, which is a bit of a dance in itself.  

 

We are back in “start up” mode, after the effects of the pandemic, the flood, the “fall” and God-knows all the other things that happened in 2020 and so far in 2021!  By His Grace and Favor we have come through because as the stone on our property says, “Thus far the Lord has helped us!”

Turn to your Ephesians 2 reading…  at the end of it:

19  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,  20  built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  21  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;  22  in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

 

From The Passion…

^“21 This entire building is under construction and is continually growing under his supervision until it rises up completed as the holy temple of the Lord himself. ²² This means that God is transforming each one of you into the Holy of Holies, his dwelling place, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you!”

 

Friends,  God is the architect and the builder here!  Lawrence will tell you as will I and Jody and all the others who have been intimately involved with the processes of this work over the past 4 years:  God’s Fingerprints are everywhere!  His direction and His direct intervention have paved the way for us to be sitting here; for us to be worshipping together today in this house of God; for us to be poised to reach our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria and the ends of the Earth!

 

As one of the videos on our website used to say, “WE are God’s plan!”  And God doesn’t have a plan B!  And God continues to work in us and through us day after day!  I laughed to myself when I saw the Gospel story today of the feeding of the 5000.  OF COURSE, that would be the reading today.   The schoolboy’s lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish – measely!  In the face of a 1.89 MILLION DOLLAR pricetag!

We had less than 10% of that in the bank, in,  are you ready for it …  wait for it … wait for it … The LOAVES AND FISHES fund!  There was also the FUTURE AND HOPE FUND from the early days of dreaming about a property of our own.  Frankly, the dream had died, in me. 

 

BUT GOD.   God had to resurrect the dream.

 

And so here we are today, the story is yet to be fully written.  I believe that God has commissioned me to “finish His work” in this place.  Not sure all that that means, but we are seeking hard after His face and His voice as He is the Head of this Church and is the Director of this Orchestra!

 

Thus far the Lord has been our helper!  And we continue to move with Him, cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, as His presence moves us forward, as our Archbishop quoted some years back:

FORWARD, 

        ALWAYS FORWARD, 

                EVERYWHERE FORWARD!

 

Just one final thought:  In Isaiah 57, we are encouraged, even commanded:

“Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle from my people’s way.”

 

A few years ago this land was known as “the abandoned church on the hill.”  Today, let it be said, “We are no longer abandoned!"  

From The Passion Translation...

Isaiah 62 For Zion’s sake, how can I keep silent?

    For Jerusalem’s sake, how can I remain quiet?
    I will keep interceding until her righteousness
    breaks forth like the blazing light of dawn
    and her salvation like a burning torch!
² Nations will see your victory-vindication,
    and every king will witness your blinding radiance!
    You will be called by a brand-new name,^[a]
    given to you from the mouth of Yahweh himself.
³ You will be a beautiful crown held high in the hand of Yahweh,
    a royal crown^[b] of splendor
    held in the open palm of your God!
⁴ You will never again be called the Abandoned One,
    nor will your land be called Deserted.
    But you will be called My Delight Is in You,^[c]
    and your land My Beloved Wife,^[d]
    for Yahweh finds his delight in you
    and he married your land.

 

Let us pray:

Almighty God, you have built your church upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone:. Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen 

God... Bless America!!?? July 4th, 2021

 

Sixth Sunday of Pentecost

July 4, 2021

Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

God … Bless America?

 

 

Welcome to the 4^th of July!  I hope that you are planning to celebrate America today somehow.  I want to take these moments this morning to urge you to do more than have beer and brats this afternoon or watch fireworks tonight.

 

 I think that many today feel that we are a nation on the brink – we are in a moment of decision; a moment of destiny in many ways.  I guess the question for me is, ‘What are we on the brink of?

 

The service this morning is a strange mix of patriotism in the music for the 4^th and the amazingly appropriate words from Scripture that were just read.  I felt it was almost a set up!  As I often do, when the lections; the readings match so amazingly, what we actually NEED to hear that day!

 

Turn in you bulletin to Ezekiel.  He was being called as a prophet to Israel – called to stand and listen and then to speak what he heard.  The prophet’s job was not easy in Israel – just as it isn’t easy today.   Jesus discovered opposition in his own hometown in our gospel;  Ezekiel found it in the very nature of the calling and in the place to which he was called!  Paul found the difficulties that accompanied his calling had a purpose:  “to keep me from being too elated.”  We’re never sure what Paul’s thorn was, but his life was never an easy one, as he brought the Words of Life and Light to the Gentiles.

 

If you have Ezekiel in hand, look with me at his call:

1.  Stand up…  in other words ATTENTION!!

2. Listen!! … for God’s Words, not yours.

3. Speak only what you hear God say, not what you think should be said…

4. Brace yourself !!  They’re not going to like it !!

 

If we hear one message through our readings this morning it’s STAND / LISTEN / SPEAK.

 

 

 

STAND

 

In our day, perhaps as much as at the beginning of our nations history, we are being called on to STAND FOR SOMETHING.

 

This nation was not founded as a White Supremacist Experiment.  In fact just the opposite is true.  It was an experiment in freedom – it IS an experiment in FREEDOM!  But freedom isn’t free.  It’s never been free!

 

Our founders had to STAND.  They had to put an end to tyranny by standing for freedom and defending it with their very lives.

 

But what they stood for wasn’t some selfish, individualistic goal of personal gain or profit at the expense of others – it was standing FOR the OTHERS.

 

Just listen:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  …  [and at the very end:]  And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

 

We are being called to STAND.

 

LISTEN

 

There was a group of leaders in the days before the revolutionary war and before the declaration of independence, and the bill of rights and the constitution that came to be called THE BLACK ROBED REGIMENT.

 

These men were the pastors and leaders of the colonies at that time.  They were the ones who spoke of freedom and the necessity of a revolution in their day.  The name was given them by the British, in recognition of their strong opposition to the crown and their eloquent influence on both people and leaders in the days coming up to the war of independence.

 

The Black Robed Regiment were not speaking their opinions – they were speaking the Word of God.  And their words made their way into these documents we celebrate on this day. 

 

Like them, today we must LISTEN to the Word of God and speak accordingly to the seats of power in our land.  For far too long the American Church has been asleep, lulled into a stupor by luxury, apathy and greed.  We must Stand again, Listen to God and speak His truth into our culture today…

 

SPEAK

 

The time for silence has gone!  The Church and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope that we have as a nation today.  The Church is God’s Plan A, and there is no Plan B!! 

 

Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus all had opposition to their messages and ministry in their days – and we are promised the same!  Do Not Fear!  

 

On this 4^th of July, as we celebrate our past and the founding of this nation, we must remember where we have come from and look carefully to where we are going! 

 

Silence is no longer an option – it’s really never been one! 

 

In the words of the Psalmist this morning we pray:

           Unto you I lift up my eyes, * you who are enthroned in the heavens.

Even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, * until he show us his favor.

 

 

And with Paul’s confession:

 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 

 

There is a destiny appointed to our nation, and today that destiny depends on us, “We The People”.  We must Stand, Listen and Speak.

 

May God help us, and May God Bless America, Again.

 

Let us pray:

 

God… bless America, land that I love. 

Stand beside her and guide her,

through the night with a light from above. 

 

From the mountains to the prairies,

to the oceans white with foam…

 

God… bless America, my home sweet home,

Oh God… bless America, our home sweet home.

 

In the Name of Jesus the Christ and for His glory.

Amen