Jesus Christ and His Construction Crew

A few more people here now. I guess we can get started, right, Faith? The title of the sermon today is Jesus Christ and His Construction Crew. Jesus Christ and His Construction Crew.

Have you ever built a house from the ground up? A few people here have, obviously. They say a house becomes a home when it's occupied. I think most of us would agree with that. If you've ever walked through a subdivision where there's rows of houses where no one is occupying it, and they're standing still, it doesn't really feel like a home. There's no lights inside. There's no curtains. There's no any of this that makes it feel like a home.

But building homes can be frustrating work. There always seems to be problems that creep up on you. But that's just like life. There's always something that crops up on us, doesn't it? You know, Jesus Christ was a carpenter by trade. And carpenters at that time typically built the house from the ground up. So he would have had his hands in on everything from the beginning to the end. Of course, back then they didn't have to worry about plumbing.

Didn't have indoor plumbing. Didn't have to worry about electricity. Didn't have to worry about outlets, faucets. And probably they didn't have to worry about those pesky building inspectors either. So even without the mind of God, Jesus Christ would have learned how to build, how to construct a home. Today, almost 2,000 years later, Christ is still building homes. And Christ is doing it now with a new construction crew. You would have to say it's probably one of the oldest construction crews. The sea is here, for He made it. Somebody try and take over today?

Chris, if you didn't like the sermon, you just had to tell me. You didn't have to put it... No problem. This building we are in is a home of God and His people. The Scripture says, As we are two or more gathered together in My name, I will be there. Which tells us a building becomes a home of God whenever God's people come together. Before we look at the home or the homes that God and Christ are building today, let's look back at when it all started in the fall of 27 A.C.E.

or A.D. When Christ's first crew came on the scene, He started with 12 men. They were the 12 disciples, and they were a motley crew. 12 guys, 20 to 30 years of age. All different. All having distinct personalities. All 12, chosen to be trained for three and a half years. Trained to build God's homes.

And it's interesting as they spent day and night for three and a half years with Jesus Christ. It would have been more like 16 hours a day they were with Him besides sleep. And you know, for most of us who have worked at a job for three and a half or even seven years, because it would have been more like seven years training, you pretty well get to know your job. You're pretty accomplished. Nothing new creeps up every day like it does when you're first hired to do a job and you're learning. But it's interesting that not only was it these 12 men, but later on that company expanded.

And we see in Scripture where it actually branched out to 70 men who were sent out on training. And a lot of women became involved in the company, this training. And at the end of three and a half years, Jesus Christ put these words to His construction crew. They're found in John 14, verse 23. John 14 and verse 23. I'll read that. And He says on the last night, He was really alive on earth.

John 14, verse 23, it says, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. And My Father will love him and will come to him. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home. We will make our home with him. So this is not just a story of building spiritual homes.

This, brethren, is a story of relationships. A story of relationships. Jesus Christ was the founder of the company. He was a boss. You ever had a good boss? I've had about one, two good bosses. My wife, we were talking, she had two very good bosses. But have you ever had a bad boss? I've had a bad boss. And boy, you sure know the difference, don't you?

Well, Christ was the master builder. And this was as a boss, He was loving. He was caring. He was strong. He had patience. He was kind. He'd be the ideal boss to have.

Because He would be understanding when you goof something up. When you messed up, as we sometimes do, don't we? A very understanding boss. And you might just say He was perfect.

So it's as if, for those of us who have the job of building a spiritual home, we have the perfect boss. Unlike any other. But if you've ever had supervision, powers, you're ever given a job to be a foreman, a supervisor, an overseer of other people. You realize it's not what is cut out to be, is it? You have a great deal of responsibility. And if you've ever supervised people, you realize that you have to be, as a scripture, austere at some time.

You have to be firm. You have to be understanding. And you must always try to be fair. Fair to all people. And sometimes you have to be stern, don't you?

And tough, as Jesus Christ had to be, as we read in the scriptures. As He dealt with this training, this crew.

I'd like you to turn to Luke, Luke 5, if you will.

Christ was there to teach people how to build spiritual homes for all those that He would call. And it's been an ongoing construction job for 2,000 years.

And it will last right up to the time of His return.

But in Luke 5, we see His story here. Luke 5 and verse 1. Now, so it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the Word of God that He stood by the lake of the Gensoroth and saw two boats standing by the lake. But the fishermen had gone from them, and they were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon, or Simon Peter, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. Now, when he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. But Simon answered to him and said, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. But then I think Peter, in his own way, was humoring him and said, well, nevertheless, at your word I will let down the net. Peter was a fisherman by trade. He had been fishing all night. He was tired. They had already washed their nets. They were ready to call it a day. And Peter, being a fisherman from a very young age, as they typically started, 10, 12 years old, here he was in his 20s. He had been fishing a long time. He knew when the fish weren't biting, as they might say. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that the boats began to even sink. There were so many fish that both boats were sinking. Unheard of. An incredible miracle. So much so that it says in verse 8, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knee, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.

O Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of the fish which they had taken, probably had fished there for ten years, and had never seen anything even close to this. They knew it was a miracle. And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid. From now on, you will catch men. Or as the whole King James, you will be a fisher of men.

So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him. So here were four fishermen called. They were hired, I guess you could say, to be trainees, to build homes, their names, Andy, Pete, Jimmy, and John. You might know them as Peter, James, John, and Andrews. But it was a relationship. If I could get Brandon to come up and help me here, Brandon, you mind? Just do that off the top of my head. I know. I'm not going to have you finish the sermon, so you don't have to be scared about that. If you could help me, I'd like you to hand these out. Mike, would you help him do that? Thank you, sir. Have a handout here, because I want you to understand that not only was this a construction crew, but it was a family affair. There were relationships here that had gone on for many years, possibly even decades. This handout is from one of the booklets we have, but it goes into the scenarios, the family relationships that were involved with Jesus Christ's ministry. I think you'll find them very interesting. You'll find that it's possible that a lot of these young men, this part of this construction crew, had known each other since perhaps even birth. And the Galilee was a very small area. It took a miracle for these four fishermen to start a whole new way of life. They gave up what they knew. They gave up everything to start this new way of life. It took a miracle, brethren, for most of us to be here today, didn't it? There's a thousand other things you could be doing today. There are a million other lives you could be living today, but you're not. You're here. It took a calling. It still does, these men. The Scripture says you cannot come to Christ unless the Father draws you. It's a calling. It's a calling. Like you turn back to Ephesians, if you will.

Ephesians 2, we covered this a few months ago, like to touch on the Scriptures again. Ephesians 2, you might remember this from Umberto's sermon that he inspired me and helped me to build about the stones when I had the foundation stones up here. But Ephesians 2 and verse 19, Paul is telling the church at Ephesus, Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being joined together grows into a holy temple of the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. So here, Paul describes that the foundation of God's home, the homes that were to be built, were built on the apostles and the prophets and Jesus Christ being the cornerstone. So the foundation, the footing and the foundation, have been laid. Now it's time for the framers. If you build houses, you know how it starts. Once the footers and the foundation block are laid, it's time for the framers. Framing is different than other building trades. It takes a different kind of person to be a framer. I've done a little bit, worked with framers. Right, Mike? You've got to be a little bit different. They're a little bit brash. They're a little bit out there. Well, Jesus Christ knew he was going to need some framers.

And so Peter was that type person. Peter might be described as kind of a bull in a China shop.

Remember, he's the one that was so far out there. He'd always say something first. He'd always be the first to do this, the first to do that. He was a leader, a natural leader, while he showed up at the transfiguration. He's the one that whipped out the sword, cut off the servant's ear. He's also the one in the book of Acts when he had received God's Spirit and he was working to build the homes of God. Even a shadow passed over an individual in a healing. You had John, part of this framing crew.

He was a disciple, as said, that Jesus loved. He also was at the transfiguration.

But you see, John was a little different. And sometimes we look as John as being the most, maybe a passive personality. But he was also, he and his brother James, part of this framing crew that I call them, they were called sons of thunder. Reason being, they were out there, too. Let us call fire down from heaven. We'll burn these Samaritans up.

That was them. And it's interesting that in Mark 9, verse 38, and Luke 9 and verse 49, there were two other accounts of the Gospels, but not in John. I like it how the commentators even bring this out. That it was John who told Jesus Christ, that, teacher, we saw these men over here casting out demons and using your name, and we stopped them, at which Jesus Christ rebuked them.

And one of the commentators even made the statement that you can tell because it wasn't in John, but it was in the other Peter's account and Luke's account, that more than likely it was John who went over and told those men, hey, you stop! You're not with us. You don't be casting out demons. You don't be using that name. Put an end to it, at which he came back and found that was the wrong attitude. And then James, brother of John at the Transfiguration, the first apostle to be martyred. And then you had Andrew, Peter's brother, who was part of this original four. And he was a follower of John the Baptist. It's amazing how all this came together in this little area called Galilee. Like you turn back to John, if you will, the Gospel of John. And in the first chapter of John, John covers this thoroughly more than the others.

And here we see Jesus Christ proclaimed by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God in the first chapter of about 35 or 36. But then we come into the meeting of this construction crew in the beginning. And in verse 40, it said, one of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ. So here it was actually Andrew, more the quiet one of the four, who actually recognized him as a Messiah and was a follower of John the Baptist. And he brought him to Jesus. Now, when Jesus looked at him, he said, you are Simon, the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone.

And you see there as we go into the rest of the crew, as I call it, because here you had the four framers as they were called apart to do the big bulk of the work. Whenever you've seen a house built or you've had one built, once the footer and the blocks laid, then you call the framers in. And the framers are usually there two weeks to a month, depends on how big the house is. And when the framers are basically done, you can see what the house is going to look like. They do a bulk of the work. They really get everything started. And it's very important that you have good framers, because if you don't have good framers, everything else is going to hurt. Everything else is going to show. Right, Mike? We found that out at Tom Bannister's house when it was framed. It was not framed very square. But it requires to finish a home, to make a house into a home. It requires roofers. You've got to get it dried in. It requires drywall, electric, plumbing. Think about it. Painters, trim, trim and brick layers, carpenters, cabinet maker, flooring, landscaping. All require different skills to finish a home. I had a guy who died before I left Tennessee. Archie Weeks. Archie was, in my company, the only guy ever called to do drywall. Archie Weeks was an artist when it came to drywall. I didn't want anyone doing anything drywall, but Archie Weeks. He was good. He was gifted. And that's a job. I don't know whether many of you have spent time around drywall. Give me anything besides roofing and drywall. They are tough, tough jobs.

But it takes a gift. Archie had a gift. He was the best before he passed away in our town. He had a woman painter, Tisha, an excellent painter, an artist.

All these different jobs are required to build a home. And it takes people with different gifts to build that home. Brethren, it takes different gifts, different people like us, like you, that have different gifts that help make this place a home of God. There was Philip in verse 43 of chapter 1. It said, The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and he said to Philip.

He found Philip and said to him, Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. So obviously, Philip, there are relationships again, obviously Philip knew Peter and Andrew from the same town, same area, grew up together probably. Philip then found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile or no deceit.

So it's interesting here as this crew is coming together, as this team is being built, that Philip was not like Peter and James and John and Andrew. He had a different personality, and so was Nathanael. Wouldn't it be neat? Wouldn't it be great if Jesus Christ could say, There comes faith in whom there is no guile? No deceit. Here comes Tracelin. No deceit. What does that mean? See, Jesus Christ knew what he said when he said, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? It wasn't vindictive. It wasn't sarcastic. It wasn't one of these negative statements. He was just a very honest person. What you saw is what you got. He didn't put on airs. There was no deceit in him at all. Brethren, God has called people, and we've got them here. In this congregation, we've got Peter's, we've got James, we've got John's, and we've got some Nathanaels. We've got some Phillips. We've got people with a lot of different talents, a lot of different gifts, and they've all been brought here together to build the home of God.

You know, there were four other pretty quiet guys. They weren't the framers, but they were just as important in building the Christ's future homes. He said, James, the son of Alphaeus, and if you look on the sheet I gave you, it's also interesting that there is speculation that even he was related to Jesus Christ. Showing more relationships. You had Thaddeus. You had a man who had a lot known as a Doubting Thomas. How would you like that for you to be stuck with that? Your name was Thomas, but you showed an incident of doubt, and now you forever, through history, hoping we meet him in the kingdom. We won't say, oh, you're Doubting Thomas.

And then you had Simon the Zealot, who obviously was different than others.

You had Matthew Levi, the tax collector. And then, of course, you had Judas Iscariot, the thief, the liar, the conspirator of murder, and a covetous fraud. All part of this team, because I don't know about you, but I know Orlando probably back there. He works with a lot of people, and so many people here work with not just one or two people, but 30 or 40 people. There's always someone who is difficult to work with. In every group, there's always someone that has to be that way. Judas just hit a lot of his. They were all part of the crew. But let's not forget the women who became part of the team, the crew, because they were needed. Like you'd go back to Luke, if you will. Luke 8. Luke 8. Now, put it here for a reason, because they were part of this team. Luke 8 and verse 1. Now, it came to pass afterward that he went through every city and village, preaching and bringing glad tidings of the kingdom of God, the good news of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him. And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons. And then there was Joanna, the wife of Chezza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and what?

Many, many others who provided for him from their substance, their possessions. And we know that Siloam was involved. We know that Mary and Martha and many others were a part.

A lot of people working together in a relationship. People serving people. People serving God. That's what it's about. Now, after 2,000 years of construction, the construction company is still operating, still doing business.

Brethren, it's time to finish God's home in South Florida.

It is time to finish God's home in South Florida. It's about relationships. Christ is coming back. The Kingdom of God is coming to planet earth. Will we, the bride of Christ, be ready?

Matthew 24, 14 says, In this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached into all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

I realize, down in the Caribbean this past week, still got a lot of work to do. Still got to preach the gospel. The Internet has not reached everywhere in the world.

Still need some magazines. Still need to get the word out. Belly to belly. Person to person.

Like you turn to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, right at the end of Matthew.

Matthew 28, verse 16.

Christ had died, risen, and we come to verse 16. And at the heading of my Bible it says, The Great Commission, the great work that is before us.

And it said, verse 16, Then the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him. But some what? Doubted. Some doubted. Still, after all they had seen, some doubted. Doubted. Rather than if you still have some doubts, you're not alone.

Goes back 2,000 years.

They doubted, is this a job I should be doing? Is this where I should be? Is this who I think it is? Is this God's church? Satan puts doubt in people's minds. Christ and the Father take it away. Satan is negative. God and Christ are positive. Where do you want to be?

In verse 18, Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

I have to try to make it to Jamaica. We've got some who want to be baptized. Got a call last night from Trinidad. Got a woman who wants to be baptized.

Got other people in other countries.

That's our job. That's what we're here for.

You know, God desires to bring many sons and daughters to glory. You see that from the Scriptures. I bring this up today because we have over 6 million people in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area. We need to build God's home for many people.

Not a dysfunctional home, but a spiritual hospital for spiritually sick people. A home for the brokenhearted. A home for the confused. Confused by not only this world and what's going on in it, but by religious babble. And so many examples that are laid out in the world. Just look at the bad news. It's proclaimed daily.

Look at those poor people that I just read about this morning when I just read the little Google News. In Houston, older people who were helped captive for they think at least 10 years in like a dungeon in the bottom of a home as people held them for their social security checks. They were literally prisoners.

That's a sad story. Just look at all the news and see all the sad that you hear.

There needs to be a time and a place to hear the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. Good news of the Gospel.

And no matter what messages you may hear from this pulpit, they all need to be inspiring because it's a positive world that's up ahead. It's a positive way of life that God has given us to live. Tough, yes, never was meant to be easy.

A hospital for the spiritually sick.

You know where the word hospital originated? I'm sure our nurses here know what I was told on an online class I was taking as we were going into the Scripture that tells us that we, as God's people, need to be hospitable.

And this man told us that thousands of years ago, there were no hospitals. There was nobody to take care of people who were sick, who were hurt, or afflicted.

But that people started doing it in their homes, and they were known to take care of people. The Downtrodans, the ones who suffered, the ones who needed help. And they were known to be hospitable people. That's where the word came from. And so later on, it was adopted by bigger places to take care of those who are hurt.

And I can be so very thankful there are quite a few hospitals in this area, and there are nurses and doctors who care to take care of people. We need to have that same gift, because it is a gift. It's not my gift.

Hospitals give me the EBGBs. I have to go there a lot. Don't mind people. I just think of... I don't know. I guess my few times in the hospital were traumatic times, and so I just really feel for people who are there. I've been to quite a few hospitals.

I'm thankful for the nurses and doctors and even the people who take care of people who are serving. And it's an incredible example to us when you see those that care. But all of us have been in hospitals, have been around people in hospitals where some of the employees really didn't care. And they really stand out, don't they? Because as a whole, most of them really do care. So many times, that's why we can put our lives in their hands.

We need a spiritual hospital here in South Florida. That's what I want this church to be.

We need a spiritual home. We need to build a home where there is love, and there is caring, there is peace, and there is patience. Not a place of judgmental attitudes. We need a positive place. We need to care for each other. We need to pray for each other. To build the kind of home that is going to take for all of us working together, that God can bring His called out ones to His home.

You know, before I got here, and even after I got here, I mentioned this before, I was told that Miami Church is a tough church pastor. There's such a diversity of people. It's a big city attitude. You have all these people from various walks of life, and there's always been problems in Miami, is what I was told.

Well, you know, brethren, I've been in Tennessee and Alabama and Kentucky. Guess what? They've got problems, too.

Mary and I, we love this church.

We love the people, and we love our family here. We're a thousand miles from home. You are our family.

Are there problems? Yes, I've got some. You've got some. All the guys, people, got some, right?

And there will be more problems, but we'll work them out. We're going to work through the problems of this church as we build this spiritual hospital. We're going to work through the problems with this book. The answers are in this book, brethren. The answers to our family problems are right here, and they're right there.

We're going to settle any problems and all problems we have with this book and on our knees, because that's the way God's home is supposed to be built.

Today is a new day. Today, I'd like to say, is day one. I am your pastor. I am not your associate pastor anymore. I have been given the responsibility to care for you, to look after you.

Victor Kubik, in the administration, has decided that this church can stand on its own. This church needs to grow. This church is full of people with God's Holy Spirit. This church is full of people that this area needs.

I feel blessed to have such a mixture, to have such a diversity out here, to have such a mixture, a crew, a team of God's people with such hearts.

Because to me, that's where it all goes back to.

Fed people ask me many times, why do you think God called me? I said, I don't know. But the bet is, it's got something to do with your heart. Because that's why He called David.

Remember?

He went to, Samuel went to Jesse's house. There was Eliab. Oh, that's the guy! Oh, man, look at that guy! Bring him over here. Let me anoint him king. God said, that's not him.

Ben and Ab. Next one. Oh, it's got to be him. Went through all seven boys. Is that all you got? Now there's one, this little runt. There's a little runt out here. Taking care of the sheep. Go get him. That's probably going to be a waste of time, I thought.

That's him.

They said, God doesn't look on the outside as man does, but He looks at the heart. Well, the 18 months I've spent here, I've seen some beautiful hearts.

I've seen some hearts that can be used.

I've seen compassion. I've seen gifts that this church has that need to be expanded.

I see such a diverse group of people with some wonderful hearts.

I'm going to make mistakes as your pastor. Not on purpose, but I'll make some mistakes.

I've made mistakes already, my 18 months, but not on purpose. I never want to lie to you. I never want to deceive you. I'll always try to be honest with you.

I will give you my all.

I will serve you. My wife will serve you with everything we have.

I will give you my all to love you. And to forgive you, because you're going to make mistakes, too.

Whether you do the same, whether you love us, whether you forgive us, it doesn't matter.

Whether you do the same or not, because I have to do it because it's called agape. That's what this church needs to be built on. Agape love. Where we love each other, because when you build a family, and all of you have families, and when you build that family, no matter what, you don't always get along. There's always things that rub you wrong. There's things that you wonder why they're that way, but they're still family. And there's that love, and you see through the mistakes. And brethren, that's what we need to do here.

We need to build a church of love, a church of agape.

Because this is our home. This is God's home for His people.

My new responsibility is to pastor the Caribbean. So I've been given that responsibility to look after the islands, and I will do that.

And the other is to look after my home church, and that's you.

We're here 24-7. Where's your service? For the best of times and at the worst of times. But I do have kind of a mandate for this church.

And one of the first things this church is going to grow.

It's going to be positive. Positive messages. Inspiring messages with caring people. Excited people stirred by the Word of God. So that if you have a friend, I want you to invite them. If you have a family member, I want you to invite them. If you see someone on the street, get them here.

Because there's a lot of stuff that needs to be learned. They can learn from you. They can learn from me. There's six million people in this area, and we have 40 here.

It's time for growth. It's time that we want people here. It's time that we embrace people coming through that door of all walks of life. It's time we let God know that we're ready to build His home. We're ready to have that spiritual hospital for people.

Men and women will be trained to lead this church with love and humility. That is what it's about. That's how we lead servant leadership. I need your help. I need you to help me to serve. I need you to help me to serve you.

I need you to serve God.

I need you to be a walking, talking billboard for what you believe.

Because six million people are waiting.

God says He wants to bring many sons to glory. But I've seen churches in the past where He couldn't bring people in because the church wasn't ready.

I want this one to be ready. I want us to fulfill our destiny.

To be something that people talk about from states away.

Victor Kubik was impressed with the people.

With the love that was here. And Beverly said, his wife, you're going to have a wonderful church.

I said, yes, we are.

Today is the start. The start of something big. The home of God. Place to invite people for help. A place for God's called out ones to come. To find a home.

Brethren, I'm blessed to be your minister. And I'm blessed to be home.