Building for the Future

As was shared this past Sunday, Southwest Church has a letter of interest for a building loan. Please pray for the LORD to give us guidance and wisdom as we consider this loan offer. Also, make plans to attend one of our Worship Gatherings this Sunday as we both pray about this opportunity and share in more detail the recent revisions in the architectural drawings of our future Worship and Community Center.

While personally considering and praying about this exciting opportunity, I was encouraged by my morning daily Bible reading from the Old Testament book entitled Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah (written 440 B.C.) records the tremendous influence of two spiritual leaders named, Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah oversaw the physical rebuilding of the exterior walls surrounding Jerusalem. Ezra was a Jewish Priest, who oversaw the rebuilding of the spiritual lives of the people of Jerusalem. It is important for us to realize from their example that physical and spiritual building can (and must) take place simultaneously!

While Nehemiah was leading an amazing effort to carry out this huge building project of the Jerusalem wall which had been lying in ruins for more than 100 years, Ezra focused his efforts on preparing the people for the spiritual task at hand. The Book of Nehemiah records an incredible unity of God’s people during this defining moment in Israel’s history (Nehemiah 8).

Following a time that the people of God recommitted themselves to honoring God’s Word in their lives, Ezra led them to recommit their lives to depending upon the LORD in a wholehearted manner. Nehemiah records this collective call to worship as follows: “Stand up and praise the LORD your God, for he lives from everlasting to everlasting!” Then they prayed: “May your glorious name be praised! May it be exalted above all blessing and praise!” Nehemiah 9:5 NLT

As we consider taking this important step of building a physical structure to serve as our future Worship and Community Center, let’s remember that this is not only a huge step of faith, but also potentially a defining moment in our history as a church! Make plans to attend this Sunday and join others in prayer as we seek to honor God every step of the way (as the people of God did in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra).