Blessings of the Temple

What a wonderful day, isn't it? Very happy to be here. Glad to see you. I'd like to invite you to hear a few words from the Word of God first.

In 1 Peter, I invite you to listen to chapter 2, verse 4.

Come to Christ, who is a living foundation of rock upon which God builds. Though men have spurned Him, He is very precious to God, who has chosen Him above all others.

And now, you have become the living stones for God's use in building His house. What's more, you are His holy priests. So come to Him, you who are acceptable to Him because of Jesus Christ. And offer to God the things that please Him. As the Scriptures express it, see, I am sending Christ to be carefully chosen, to be the carefully chosen, precious cornerstone of my church. And I will never disappoint those who trust in Him.

Verse 7, yes, He is very precious to you who believe. And to those who reject Him, well, the same stone that was rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone, the most honored and important part of the building.

And the Scriptures also say, this is the stone that some will stumble over in the rocks that will make them fall. They will stumble because they will not listen to God's Word nor obey it. And so this punishment must follow that they will fall.

But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God Himself. You are priests of the King. You are holy and pure. You are God's very own. All this so that you may show to others how God called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were less than nothing, now you are God's own. Once you knew very little of God's kindness, now your very lives have been changed by it. What wonderful words that I feel in addition to what Mr. McNeely spoke to us earlier from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 really give meaning and context to this day of very special celebration, this inaugural service of the United Church of God in our own place here in the city of Indianapolis.

A couple things here I wanted to comment about the Indianapolis Church, because I feel like what we have come to today has only been a progression in a development of a spirit. Because back in about 1999-2000, I'm not sure exactly when, but I knew that it was when the home office was still at the bottom of the hill, and we weren't at the top of the hill until 2002.

But Darris McNeely brought over some of the board, or maybe the entirety of the Indianapolis Church Council Board, I'm not sure exactly what they were called, and they presented to the council a plan of how they were functioning, which is well within the scope of operations. But they show the new way. They show a way that could possibly be brought forward, which included some contributions being made locally, a collection for a building fund, and even an organization. It was quite, not only novel, but quite courageous at that time to present to a culture which we had that was still basically trucking on from the way we had been for the previous 30 or 40 years. And they presented it, and it was very interesting to hear. I know because I was on the Council of Elders, and I sat there and I listened, and I congratulated Darris McNeely for the direction that they were taking. That was only the first step. In 19, in 2008, the Terre Haute Church was looking for a place to meet. We were basically asked to leave the Korean Baptist Church, and the places to meet were very, very scanty or very dirty and not acceptable. And we were wanting to have a building of our own, and we came across a new place, or a relatively new place, a brick building that had been a tanning salon before with a lot of little rooms.

And we had a price that was given. We were talking about how can we do it. And we had help from the Lafayette Church, which did have a building fund. Terre Haute did not have any. But also, the word came here to Indianapolis. We weren't asking. Somehow, they had heard. But they offered to help us. They offered to help us to get into that building. And that's what made it possible. The Terre Haute Church, and it's having its own building, which has been proven to be God's will, but the good fruits that have come from that building has been as a result, in large part, to the generosity and the outward spirit of the Indianapolis Church. Then, about five years ago or so, I might be plus or minus one, the Cleveland Church, the pastor there called and said there was a building, an older church for sale on the outskirts of town. And it was a doable price, but not doable enough. And could anybody be there to help? And we called you and asked if you could loan us a certain sum for that building, which you were glad to do. That made that building possible. And a lot has happened to that building. It's been upgraded, and it certainly has been a light to the community, with a big sign out front, and the church has grown substantially as far as membership, as a result of being a light in the community and a place where things can be done that could not have been done before, meaning meetings, the outreach programs, seminars, and Kingdom of God seminars as well. And now it is time for the Indianapolis Church itself. And so we were able to come to this, and I won't go through the whole story here because I had to actually give a sermon as well.

But it's really, truly marvelous that it all came out the way it did. It took vision. It took courage to be able to move to a higher level of ownership of buildings. There have been a number of buildings around the country. We own about, I think, 13 or 14 buildings now around the country, and they've all proven to bear good fruit. The Columbus Church, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Terre Haute. This whole part of the country, the congregations, have their own place to meet. They're no longer Bedouins. They're no longer going from one place to another. They're no longer on their camels looking for a new oasis here and there. They have their own building that they store their things. That's been very, very wonderful. We are reinventing ourselves. I do want to give credit to everybody who's worked very, very diligently on this project. I wanted to thank Kathy McClure, Jamie Snyder, Mike Snyder. I'm always very leery about naming names because I always forget somebody, usually the most obvious people. I want to thank these people who have been so very kind. I'm also very thankful that this thing is over with because I could sleep now.

The reason I could sleep now is because my wife isn't on the telephone talking to our lawyer in California at midnight. But there's one verse in the Bible that really defines my wife, and I wanted to read it to her. Not to her. No, I'll be hearing from her. I want to read it to you.

It's Proverbs 31, verse 25, but in the living translation. She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. And Bev has been just very, very courageous in this whole thing, as Daris McNeely has said. We were up and down talking, you know, to get all the approvals from the Council of Elders on this.

In fact, until about even two weeks ago, until two, three weeks ago, there was still question whether this building would be a possibility. In fact, it's the only time I saw my wife Waiver, which is just before that, saying, I don't know if it's... we'll just have to see if it's God's will. We worked so hard. So many of you had worked so hard in preparing things and getting facts, information, this area, studies, and so forth. And we weren't sure whether it would come through or not. We said, we'll have to see if it is the will of God.

Now, remember, we were in a teleconference at the ministerial conference up in Minnesota, Daris McNeely, as a member of the Council of Elders, and myself and Bev. The final vote came through, and the loan and the exchange was made.

Closing was a week ago last Friday. The church here closed last Monday. I mean, this is how fast things have moved, and here we are. The wonderful thing about this building, it was move-in ready. There wasn't a lot to do. I know you had a lot of things to bring here, but there wasn't a lot of huge construction work or any big things that had to be done. I do want to express gratitude to God for making this wonderful facility possible and available to the Indianapolis congregation.

As time goes by, we will see the fruits of it, and we'll know for sure, for certainty, that it is the will of God. We have a place now to worship God, to do His work, and to be a light in the community.

We'll be a serious church. We'll be a place where we're not meeting at the Lutheran Church. We're not meeting at Caribbean Club. You know, we're not meeting at Moose Lodge or whatever. We've met in so many, many places. The very first place that we met in in the beginning of my ministry was Moose Lodge. If I squinted and looked at the speaker, I could see a moose head over it. It looked like a moose was talking to me.

So, thank God that these days are over with. This is inaugural service. I'm not sure exactly what is being planned, so if we say things that are blessing this building, they will be set again when there's a more formal, planned, festive event. We just wanted to be able to have this service where we ask God's blessing on this place. And we so badly wanted to be here for the opening and to meet with all of you. I feel like I had a stake in this area. The longest I've lived in any area in my life has been Indianapolis, even though I was not the pastor of Indianapolis, I was the pastor of Lafayette, but some of you are from that church.

I lived here for 16 years. The first permanent temple in Jerusalem was a beautiful structure, and it was dedicated to God. And there's some telling things about the attitudes behind that building. The building was not built as a building unto itself. Just like I feel the Indianapolis brethren have not looked towards a building fund just to have a building that they could look to, but to be something that would serve the church and the people, and the matter that their building fund actually spun off to other buildings in the United Church of God. But there are certain telling bits of information in 1 Kings 8, in the dedication service of the temple, which was one of the most beautiful structures of its time.

It was one of the wonders of the world. And people from around the known world at that time came to visit it, such as the Queen of Sheba and others when they heard about the construction and the beauty and the magnanimity and God through Solomon. This building represented a house built for God where He would dwell. It was not a place to worship. It was a place of worship. There are some notable parallels to focus on.

As I said, the real building of God, what Darris McNeely spoke to us of yet, is the church, you. This is the true building. We're just thankful that we have a housing for it, where we could do more, that we could express ourselves in a more brilliant way as Christians. That is certainly very, very wonderful. But there are some parallels in the construction of the first tabernacle and the first temple, the first permanent temple, that parallel growth, that parallel what God is really building in His church.

When you look at Exodus 25, you can just write this down. When you write down, look at Exodus 25, there's a long list of specifications. You kind of wonder, why in the world are all these things mentioned? They shall make an arc of a casio with two and a half cubits. You shall overlay it with gold.

You shall put poles with rings. You put four gold. Why is this in the Bible? Why are all these details preserved for all eternity, about all the specifications? It goes on and on. It talks about the knobs on the doors, all these details. Well, God had a blueprint, but a blueprint is worthless without specifications. And just like in our life, we have a blueprint as to where we're going, what we're doing, but God has given us quite a few specifications in our life, what we are supposed to be doing, what His plans are for us, His commandments, His rules, and some of the things that have to do with the fineries and the finesse and the personalities and character and demeanor and how we work.

That part of the process of developing a temple, which could be also you individually are the temple of God, but this Indianapolis temple of the church also has a character about itself. There are certain things that we are asked to do, that we are required to do.

In Exodus 25.1, when the first tabernacle was built, the people were to give willingly to it. It was not a tax. It was something that was above and beyond any contributions. They were to commit, and the people really came through. They came through with gold. They came through with fabric. They came through with all types of things, animal skins, whatever, to beautify the first tabernacles. And the first people were extremely generous in doing what they had to do. But the point was, is that the building and the construction of that building was as a result of not a tax, not a levy, not as a requirement, but something that was to be done willingly.

In Exodus 25.1, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel. They bring me an offering from everyone who gives it willingly to the children of Israel. They bring me an offering.

And so people brought all the things that are listed there, and there was just a lot of things that were brought for that temple. Now, when we come down to the building of Solomon's Temple, it was a massive national priority. It was the number one construction project, probably in the whole Middle East. 30,000 people were involved in the construction of that project, 30,000 people that worked on shifts. It was a national priority.

The one thing that was very interesting about it is that in 1 Kings 6 and verse 7, 1 Kings 6 and verse 7, and starting with 1 Kings itself, it talks about the reign of Solomon, and the chapters 4, 5, and 6 speak about the construction of the temple and all that was done. But this was not the usual construction site. One thing that was noted about the building of the temple was that everything was to be done silently. 1 Kings 6 and verse 7, And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry. So that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. No banging, clanging, chipping, noise. They didn't have jackhammers then, but there could have been a lot of noise in the building of the temple. Do you know that our character is built silently as well? The temple of God is being built not with noise and fanfare and boasting and bands playing fanfare. It's built silently over time as we build our lives. The final assembly was silent.

Respect and reverence for God. And character is built where people can't see it being built. One thing about character is not something that you wear so many stripes and this is a much character you have. It's something that is very private and it shows itself when it is tested. That's how we know people's character. Whenever we have tests, oftentimes that's one reason why God does allow us to go through trials. It's for us to be able to have a reality check on the character we have. But that character is built quietly. We're like the Northwestern River commercials insurance company, the quiet company. Well, we're the quiet church in the way we develop ourselves.

Some may make a lot of noise in the temple of God, but are they really building the church?

Also, the temple in 1 Kings 6, 13, God says, And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. I've just been studying in ABC. I've been teaching about teaching about the book of 1 John. A lot is said about abiding. God abiding in us would be abiding in him. I truly believe that Jesus Christ is here, abiding among us, probably in a greater way than before, because this is our home. We've come home. When we come here midweek, come here in the Sabbath, for whatever occasion we have, his spirit is here and abides with us. I believe that. As we speak about his spirit, as we speak about his dwelling place in us. Is God really dwelling in us?

Because that's where the construction takes place. The cost of the temple was very high. Jesus Christ said, Luke chapter 14, count the cost! The CVF is to finish it. But the cost is high. The cost is your life. And building the temple of God, we are sacrificing our lives from the direction we had gone to purchase something that is beyond cost, beyond value, eternity. If you want to call it, you're not buying it, but that's the cost. Jesus Christ said, count the cost to see whether you have sufficient to finish the project of becoming one of his disciples.

The temple was built in 11 years. The first four years was laying the foundation. Just laying the foundation to make sure it was rock solid.

Then the next seven years, the superstructure was built. It took faith to build this building. And I might say that everything that we have done in the United Church of God will be very open, very frank about it. That's been progressive, that's been forward-looking and visionary, has required faith and courage.

Whether it be our Ministerial Development Program, our Ministerial Training Program, whether it be even a building program, or whatever we have done is different from the same old, same old. It has required courage, it has required pressure, us being able to defend what we believe, and also delivery of fruits. This is the 25th year of the United Church of God, and our General Conference of Elders will be a 25-year celebration where we not only will be thankful for the first 25 years, but speak about the next 25 years. And I already have my topic that I want to speak about when I do. I want to talk about courage. I want to talk about the moments of courage. John F. Kerry wrote a book about profiles and courage, but we have several profiles in courage in the United Church of God, and we need more. The building that was built in Jerusalem had both strengths in a solid foundation, solid walls, but also had beauty and decoration. You can't have one without the other. You can't have one without the other. You can't have beauty with no substance, with no foundation.

Also, you can't have just construction concrete walls without beauty. It takes both, and the temple was both. In our personal private lives, are we strong? Do we have a solid foundation of abiding Christ, of obedience, of character, silent character that's rock-solid, can't be moved, can't be pushed in any way? But do we have the beauty of graciousness, of kindness, of love, and mercy? In the same way, we can't just be loving and merciful with no foundation.

And just having a foundation of being rigid without beauty is also not beautiful to God. The temple of God represents the totality of the way He looks upon His Church, the way He looks upon all of us individually. Also, as the building is built, certain things have to be done at certain times. Those of you who have built a house—and I used to work with my dad in the construction business when I was in high school, and I hated every moment of it—but I know that he laid foundations, poured concrete, poured footers—I remember him doing that, pouring a concrete floor, doing the framing, putting in the electrical, plumbing, sheetrock, paint, and then the carpet. You can't do things out of order. There are certain things that have to be done in a particular order. And God is doing a construction project where He's teaching us different things as He's constructing His temple, whether it's personally or whether it's as a congregation here. And for that matter, overall, we go through different lessons.

But let's take a look at the dedication service. We may very well go through the same thing. I'm not sure what we'll go through when we have our bigger event, but I wanted to cover these because I have spoken about this in every single building that we have opened up in Africa and also at the dedication of our television studio, which was almost exactly a year ago. It was on November 26, 2018. In 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 12, here's what Solomon spoke. These are things that he spoke before he actually had the blessing of the building. 1 Kings 8, verse 12, Solomon spoke. The Lord said that he would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built you an exalted house and a place for you to dwell in forever. This is a place that we want to when we come here. God is here. God is speaking to us. God is teaching us. God is living in us.

Then, in verse 14, number 2, the first blessing was not upon the physical building. It was upon the people. He blessed the people before any reference to the physical structure. 1 Kings 8, verse 14, Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. Here they were in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, thousands of people. And here Solomon is standing before this building. But he said he turns around to the audience and blesses them because that truly was the temple of God. What a wonderful thing to do. What a wonderful priority.

This is one of the biggest differences between God's true religion and pagan religions, where you have demagogues, where you have horribly autocratic gods who care nothing about the people and just in themselves. God cares about his people. 3. Solomon declared that this would be the place where prayers would be heard. It was the purpose for that building. It wasn't just a beautiful building of itself, but it would be the place where prayers would be heard. Verse 27, But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. How much less this temple, which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant is praying before you today, that your eyes may be opened toward the temple night and day, toward the place which you said, My name shall be there, that you may hear the prayer which your servant makes toward this place. We come here as part of our worship of God, it's our prayers to God, and we pray that our prayers be answered.

Not over yet. We're not to the blessing of the building yet. But this one here, he says in fourth point, foreigners, outsiders, would take note of what's going on. The people in Carmel, the people in Indianapolis North, we want people to be able to be baited by this when they see the sign, United Church of God. Perhaps they have some subset line, I'm not sure what we will have on our sign outside. But they see the building, they see the people coming to church with their families and their children. Who are these people? Who are these people that worship their God in such a respectful way? It'll be a place of curiosity and resource to the whole world about what's going on in that building, which it was, to Solomon's time, as people from around the world took an interest not only in the physical construction, but also in who is the God that Solomon and the nation of Israel worships? Who is that God, really? They might take an interest. You know, I am very open to having people from the outside come into this building and see our literature laid out, to see what we do, and even be able to rent from us so that we could be an example to be a witness to them. Moreover, verse 41, concerning a foreigner who is not of your people Israel, but has come from a far country for your name's sake. This is what Solomon is praying here before the blessing of the building. For they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your outstretched arm when he comes and prays towards this temple. Here in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, that all peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by your name. Make this temple a tool of evangelism, if you will.

Okay, thank you very much. You didn't look like a terrorist!

The purpose of this facility will be to reach those outside of us and to teach about the true God. And finally, finally, finally, the blessing of the building takes place. 1 Kings 8, verse 62.

Solomon dedicates the temple. Verse 63, So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord. Finally, we had the dedication of the building.

The last thing that was done was a celebration party. That time, verse 65, Solomon held a feast and all Israel was with him, a great assembly. So that was just a wonderful synopsis, but I think it's beautiful in that there was not just glory to the physical structure, but its purpose was outlined in the entirety of the experience. God motivated Solomon to use that building for outreach, for worship, for identity, for promulgating and for teaching the truths of God, going back to how God was working with them and bringing them out of Egypt and establishing the nation of Israel, which was at its zenith during Solomon's time. The borders of Israel were the biggest ever, from the Nile River all the way to the Euphrates. It was a huge territory that was either Israel or under Israel's administration. So I am certainly very, very thankful for all that's taken place and that we have this building. Now I'd like to ask Darris McNeely to please come up to the front. I have no flowers for you.

But I would like both of us to ask God's blessing upon this building. I'll start and I'll have Darris say a few words and praise to God as well. Our Father in heaven, we come before you with deepest gratitude on this day of the inaugural service, December 14, 2019, a day that we've been waiting for for almost a quarter of a century that finally has taken place. And we have been patient, but you have rewarded us. We're thankful to you that we understand you, we know who you are, and we want to get to know you better to understand your purpose in our lives. But we're thankful that you have provided us with this facility, with the various rooms and the various things that can be done. We still have to get acquainted with it and find out how we can really make it our home and how to make it your home as well here. So we thank you for it and ask your blessing upon it. Ask you to make it a blessing that binds us together, that makes us one, that makes us more purposeful in how we serve. So we thank you for this. You be praising, thanksgiving in Jesus' name. Amen. There's...

Father, we are extremely grateful, as we've noted here, for this building and for your people who are here gathered today in worship before you. As the new chapter here begins for the congregation in the central Indiana area in Indianapolis, Father, we just ask for your blessing in every way upon the use of this building to bring together the hearts and the minds of all who are gathered here and those who will join in the coming weeks and months and years by your grace, by your calling, to be added to their fellowship in the body of Christ. We know that you, through your Son, have a vision of the people whose gifts and whose talents are being nurtured and brought together, magnified and edified by through your spirit to serve a larger spiritual body. We are very aware that in the United Church of God we exist, Father, as a part of the spiritual body of Christ to serve that larger body. So, may the work that is done here and throughout your congregations in the United Church of God help the work that you are doing through your Son Jesus Christ and the larger spiritual work of bringing together and ultimately reconciling all things to you through your Son Jesus Christ. So, that is your vision. May the work, the words, the conversations, and fellowship, and everything that is done in this building here in Indianapolis be to your honor and to your glory, Father, in accomplishing that vision that you have that you are bringing to pass through your Son Jesus Christ. We thank you for this facility now, but most of all for your people who are here and the work that you are doing through them and in their lives. We commit this into your hands, Father, and thank you in and by the name of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Finally, one more thing that I wanted to mention is that Darris McNeely and his wife Debbie, Bev and I will be traveling together Tuesday to the Philippines. We're going to visit three countries. We'll do a training session pastoral development program in Manila for about 40 people, which includes 10 ministers and wives and also other leaders, including one minister from Myanmar, formerly Burma, that will be there. So we have that. And then from there we'll go to Singapore. We're holding a Kingdom of God seminar next Sabbath. And then from Manila we're going to Singapore and visit our church there, a very faithful group of people that have been there. Some will come from Malaysia, we hope. And we were going to hold a Kingdom of God seminar, but because of new anti-sudition laws in Singapore, it was felt not wise to have such a public meeting in the area that forbids, under severe penalty, to convert any Muslims. And then finally we're going to Hong Kong. We ask your prayers for that, where we will hold a Kingdom of God seminar for the readers of Beyond Today magazine and visit with our people. So don't think that we had the blessing of the building, then skip the country. We just wanted to give you context for what we're doing. So I wanted to let you know about that.