This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Waterford Lakes, East Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. Do you want to preach? Well, this is a tough time for us as a church for us, as a community, for us as people. Do me a favor a quick just to get an idea here. How many of you are feeling any anxiety or stress because of the election? If so, please stand, literally stand right where you're feeling any stress related to that. So I thought most of us, how many of you are feeling stressed at all or anxiety relation to our church transition? Please stand. Continue standing, everybody stay standing. Do I pick up any new people? How many of you or Penny hang out with Penny? Penny is doing good. So it's Christian. How many of you are stressed or have anxiety about anything that's not standing, please stand. All right, so Penny is it. You're invited or in my house, I'll be gone. Okay. Penny, just go ahead and stand for the sake of standing here. If you're not standing, go ahead and stand up. Literally, this was in the news. If you're feeling stress or tension, they suggest to put your hands behind your back and roll your shoulders as a way to release tension that you might, because often we carry in our neck or shoulder areas. Is that helping at all? I ain't doing much for me, but I don't know. Just thinking about that a little bit. All right, you can have a seat. There's a lot going on. Do you know that with the daylight savings time, everybody thought, hey, we picked up an hour last night, and some of you who've been here for an hour earlier going, no, I did not pick up an hour. I'm sorry for you, but most of us picked up an hour. Do you know there's 11% increase in the amount of depression, at least for the next 10 weeks or so, after this time change. There's something about it getting dark earlier that makes it harder and more difficult. There is a lot going against us right now, emotionally, as we try to process life from things that aren't so important, like the time change, maybe, to things that really are in the life of our church, like that. This passage, keen to mind, and Don's in Kingdom Kids, but the serving team is right here, but he's shared at our officer meeting that he had read that week or recently. On this last Tuesday night meeting, and I think we all thought, wow, that says it so well that you can, how can people be rejoicing and people be weeping all the same time, all looking at the same events, you know, from different angles, and you can tell the difference between those that were weeping and those that were rejoicing with it. So there was a resignation there with me, and I couldn't stop thinking about that text as the week went on, and as I was thinking what to do, I decided to abandon Second Timothy, it's a great book, you should continue reading it. But I thought we needed some very personalized messages from God's Word, these last three weeks that we are individual church. We will continue as a church, as we unite with UPC, as we're an individual church. In a series that I just wanted to call, follow the King, because if there was any one final or most important message that I would want to leave with you, it would be that. We started off in calling the church Christ, Kingdom Church, because I wanted to constantly be a reminder that this was, whose kingdom this was about, and who we were building, what, whose kingdom we were building, the Lord's Kingdom, not mine, not a Presbyterian one, not one in East Orlando. As we think about this, I would love for us all to be thinking as we leave, what does it mean for us, individually as families, as a church family, to continue to follow the King. There's mixed emotions, and I think this passage illustrates it so well, because we will find many reasons to be sad over the next few weeks and months. We will find many reasons to rejoice, I think, to, if we look at the deeper, bigger picture, with that as well. So I want you to, for just a moment here to look at this context, let me apologize to you, there's no sermon insert. At first, I apologize, I thought, man, I forgot to get the insert. And actually, I just realized, I didn't give them an insert to print this week. They used to remind me with that, so that usually catches me, but so this is my fault completely. So taking notes anywhere you want on your skin or in the bulletin or something, if you like, I'm sorry you don't have that with you, but I want you to get you a picture of what's going on in this text before we just dive in and start talking about it in more specific ways with that. One, this text comes in Ezra here as they are rebuilding the temple. The first temple was built by Solomon. Remember David had asked the Lord, he could build a temple for him, and God told David, hey, you have too much love in your hands in essence. But I'll let you have plans for it, make plans for it, but your son Solomon will be the one to do that. What that was done in 960 BC, and this is maybe more detail than it's helpful, but I'll actually step aside for a little bit so you can see. A little bit of a timeline of what's going on with that. You can see here, Solomon's temple in 960. It's more information than you need, but it talks about the temple process there. In 586 BC, Solomon's temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, and the people were exiled to Babylon with that. In 538 Jews and Zerebbel, in particular who was the governor there in Jerusalem, was allowed to come back to the land and to start building or rebuilding the temple, which is really what we're looking at here in this context because they have just gone two years into it and they've just laid the foundation as we read this particular text this morning. In 515 BC, you'll see when the temple will actually be completed. So I just wanted to give you an idea of what's going on in the timeline and the history of things with it. Specifically, in the context here, there's two groups of people that this pastor describes. It's one that describes the younger people who were probably born in exile, who had had any recollection or memory of Solomon's temple. And then it describes also the older people who would have been there and had seen it. Maybe they were young, or maybe they were middle aged at that time, but they could visualize it because they saw it. They walked in it. They worshiped in it. We have both of those groups of people described here, and they're all looking at the exact same circumstances, the foundation completion that took two years for them to be laid there. They're all at that point there, seeing the potential, seeing what's already started, seeing what's yet to come, and they have two completely different responses. God is bigger and greater than both the responses, which is ultimately what I want us to see here today. Three observations I want to make about the text I think are important. One, they had a shared song. Two, they traveled two different rows to get there. But three, there was one bigger and better story. The key point that, as I give you each week is this, we are in the keen story. They'll ever, ever forget that you're in a story, but it's not yours. You're in the keen story. So let me look at the first thing here now this morning. One shared song that they had. Look at verse 11. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. Here's what they said, for he is good, for a steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. They had spent about 50 years roughly in exile when they came to this point here. And the song that they're singing here is not just some random song they picked. But if you look at 2 Chronicles 7, and you can turn there some other time, it was the exact same song they sang when Solomon's temple had been dedicated. And that wasn't by accident. They were remembering. They were recalling God's goodness and faithfulness. And they were singing together that he is good and a steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. As I mentioned earlier, I've taken 2 years to get to this point. So this was not a short, quick thing that they did. It had been a long process. But what it did, it represented the reality of its completion. You know, as we so know today, here the key and the most important part of any successful building, anything you would build as a solid foundation. And when that foundation was completed, it was like, hey, the key part, the most important part, the first step was completed. You knew the rest was just a matter of time and it was coming. And indeed, that's how they felt as well in this particular time and context. Most importantly, this particular stage represented that they had a shared heart as a people. They were returning to what would be and what the temple was and what it continued to represent for the Israel people as a place of God's presence and at the center of their heart as a community and a worship. So for this foundation to be laid again, having been in exile for 50 years, this was much more than like, hey, we're getting some of our home buildings back. This is much more than we're rebuilding our world trade centers because some bad people tore it down. This would be like, hey, we're rebuilding the capital of the United States of America or the White House, something that represented the very core of a community. This represented the very core of who the people of God were because it was the fact that God was with them as he led them out of Egypt, as he had guided Abram in the very original time to go to the promised land. That God was with them, the temple represented the presence of God. So with this foundation laid, and right there in Jerusalem, on the same foundation by the way that Solomon's temple was laid, the exact same place, it was a reminder that they were returning to this place where God would be the sinner of their heart. It represented God's goodness and love, which is why they sang about it because God had brought them back from exile. It represented for them that he had forgiven them. They had known, and they had heard early on that they didn't keep God's covenant promises or their obligations to that. His promises were no longer a blessing before them, but promises of cursing which they had experienced for 50 years. But he had forgiven, he had kept his promise though that if they returned, if they were repented, he would restore them to the promised land. And there they were standing in Jerusalem, it's capital at the hub of it all, the temple foundation. It was a reminder that then that God was for them, that he had not left them. Remember the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant had been, it had been a footstool of God. It was where his presence came and met Earth, where it met with his people. God's character and faith on this led to this one shared song. One thing I noted and thought about there, it's always the glory of God that truly unites His church. If you find any other thing uniting people, quote, under God, it's really not true unity or not unity of the true God unless it is surrounding His glory. Because it is the glory of God that unites His people truly in a true form of unity. And here we see it in this context here. The more clearly we see the glory of God, the more clearly we see that we are in the King's story. You know what will unite Christ's kingdom church with University of Presbyterian Church? Truly unite these two churches? One thing, the glory of God. The glory of God where our eyes would be fixed and the glory of God where our hearts and our passions would be moving towards, for His glory. Anything less, it's not going to be, it's not going to be biblical unity, if it's unity at all, really won't be. Only the glory of God. I believe this church hungers for that. I know the University of Presbyterian Church hungers for that as well too. Many friends still there. No little years have there. But when we share that, when we unite with that together, that will have a power to unify us like nothing else. That's what unifies us as converged churches in this side of town, the glory of God. That's what unify His church around the globe and the one thing that does is the glory of God. Remembering His character and faithfulness, trusting in His promises, loving one another as He has loved us, realizing we are a fellow worshiper who is following the same king. Those things, those are all about the glory of God. And when those things grab our attention, those things grab our heart, you sing one song, you sing the same song, and you sing to the one true king. We are in the king's story together. But they had not only a shared song, they had come two very different roads. Two roads traveled. Look at verses 12-13. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice and they saw the foundation of this house being laid. Though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish the sound of joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout and the sound was heard far away. Those in the crowd there fit in two categories. The older ones and the younger ones, but they came two very different roads to get to this place where they share the one same song. You kind of reminded me a lot as I was thinking about it of the World Series this past week. Anybody stay up too late to watch the World Series? I mean I found I'm not really a big baseball fan, but I wanted to watch this game, especially knowing what was going on between the two teams, and my wife who's not a baseball fan really at all had to stay up to the very end of it. She slept during the commercials, she's like wake me up. I kept doing that, but it was all because there was a sense of glory. Every World Series has a sense of glory, but you have two teams that haven't won in so long and one that hadn't won in 108 years. There's a great sense of glory with that, and none of us wanted to miss out on that. And if you think about it, one of the responses, because there's been lots of news about responses about it, there was weeping and rejoicing. There were people, the one powerful picture of the guy in the cemetery watching the game over his father's, I believe it was his father's grave, because they had vowed they were going to watch the game together when the Cubs won the World Series. There's weeping, and then I saw pictures and videos of fathers and sons and children jumping for joy, crying together for joy over it as well. There was this strange combination of both, and both seemed fitting, didn't it, because there was a glorious occasion on one scope of things with that. And you know what they cried, the curse has been lifted. And let me tell you, when the Israelites were gathered there around this temple foundation, there were the old and the young rejoicing that the curse had been lifted. The curse of exile was the ultimate form of God's curse, that the Promised Land was the ultimate blessing, well the ultimate curse would have been, you're kicked out of it, you're not in it any longer. And they were back, the curse had been lifted. Let's look for a second at that younger crowd that was there in that. The younger crowd, those who had not seen the first temple, those that were roughly somewhere under the age of 50, because they had either been born in exile or they had been born in exile. They had only heard the stories of the former glory that was represented by Solomon's temple, they had never seen it for themselves. Those that had only known a life of exile, only knew the stories of deliverance in Egypt, only knew the stories of what this Promised Land was, the land flowing with milk and honey, only knew the stories about the mighty King David and how he conquered them, conquered the enemies and the Philistines and conquered Goliath and so on. Only they had heard the stories from them, they never seen it with their own eyes. Yet they had to know, they had not yet known until this point, that this is a God that keeps his promises, that fulfills his promises. They were in a stage of those 50 years, whatever point they were born in that of going, we know he's a God of promises, we know he has kept his promises, but it's not until this day that this group of people know that he indeed has kept his promises, because we're living in it. It was a powerful day for them, it was a new glory to them, a glory that they had only heard about or read about, but one that had not tasted for themselves, it was a very different road than the older crowd. They produced shouts of joy at the sight of the temple foundation being completed, because for them the curse was lifted and they were in the midst of it. Well think about second now the older crowd in contrast, those who did remember Solomon's temple, those who were at least over 50 years old. For them it was not new glory, so much as it was diminished glory. Oh yes, it was glorious that God had forgiven, God had repented and God had seen their repentance and had brought them back, but it lacked the grandeur from Solomon's temple, which had been decorated with gold and precious stones. Solomon's temple we know had taken about seven years to build, and this temple will only take about four years to build. Solomon and all his wealth and all their independence, they were at the height of the power of Israel and so many ways there, and this temple was the reflection of that. Here where Solomon's temple had been built around a flourishing city, here this city is still in rubble and decay, and as we know there's no wall yet. Nehemiah is going to take care of that soon, right? But here in the city that represents the decay and represents the wrath of God against him. It was a very different time. One thing you may not remember is that there's no ark of the covenant. We were waiting for a while for Indiana Jones to discover it, but there was no ark of the covenant at this point. Now that my wife is out here, but somewhere in the process of Solomon's temple being destroyed, the ark was either taken in hidden someplace or it was destroyed, but I don't know what God, it hasn't reappeared since. So the people knew that. There's no ark of the covenant that was coming any time to take this temple. There had been fire from heaven that had come from heaven to fill and to light the altar when Solomon's temple was dedicated. No fire from heaven this time. Yet the second Chronicles 7 gives the account of that for that. But the older people knew that there was a loss here that was one that was related to the sin and the abandonment of the covenant keeping obligations of the people of God. They remembered Israel and Judah's unfaithfulness to God. They had led to the separation of the two kingdoms and led to the exile and being overtaken by their enemies. The older people knew that. They remembered probably their own unfaithfulness to whatever degree they could relate to that. So there was grief and there was mourning remembering what had brought them and led them to this place. Those who knew the season of blessing in the land and the season of cursing the exile, these were the people that understood both. The younger crowd was just beginning to experience what wow the blessing begins to look like and it tastes and it looks good. The older people remembered both. They remember what it was like before the exile. They remember what it was like in the exile. They introduced weeping at the site of the temple foundation being completed. But yet still they knew the curse was being lifted as they were returning. But they had a much different angle and a fullness of the story because they'd walked through more. Don't forget, we are in the king's story. Though we travel different roads, I'm sure the same song. Although our situations are different, we as a church can relate to the range of emotions this week and in the weeks ahead that the people here could relate to. Circumstances are different but think about it. There are reasons for us to grieve today, we're honest. Things are changing and changed by definition often brings grief. Things will be lost. Can we just be honest about that? Things are not going to be the same and things that you love and cherish about your church will be lost. Things are dying because it's time and because God's leading that way. That's difficult. But there are also reasons to rejoice today. Things are changing and change brings hope. Things will be lost but let me tell you, things will be found. Things are dying but remind yourself things will be born in the midst of God's working movie. Both of that was experienced back in Ezra 3. Both of those things should in a healthy way and a good way be experienced by us because both are true. Feeling both is healthy. Not only one shared song, two different roads, but the thing that I think is most glorious about it all is that there's one bigger and better story. They sang one song for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever towards Israel. Some through shouts of joy, some through weeping, two different roads that brought them to the same one true king. And that king had a bigger and had better story for them. Bigger and better story than those who went. Important to remember. Bigger and better story than those who rejoiced. Have you ever thought about that sometimes? I mean whenever we're weeping, wherever we're grieving, we're longing and we're knowing there's got to be bigger and better story. How about picking on your best day? When's a good day in your life? When's the time that you thought everything just went perfect and it couldn't have been better? That's nothing compared to the bigger and better story that God's at work and moving and doing. One of the things that so cool was to read about Haggai the prophet who was writing during the same period of time here who was a prophet. And I want us to read exactly what he was prophesying at the same time that this temple foundation was being laid and was going to be built over the next 15 years or so with that. It took four years, but it was delayed. It's like 15 years total from the time they started to think time they got done. Here's what the prophet Haggai has to say about this temple in this particular time. Speak now to the rubble of the son of Shiltyo, governor of Judah and to Joshua the son at Jehosedek, 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 as is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubel, the clear is the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehosedek, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land declares the Lord. My own parentheses, be strong, Christ, you know, church in your unique situation. Work for iron with you declares the Lord of Hosed, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit remains in your midst, fear not. For this says the Lord of Hose, 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 with glory, says the Lord of Hosed. The silver is mine and the gold is mine declares the Lord of Hosed. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former says the Lord of Hosed. And in this place I will give peace declares the Lord of Hosed. Can you imagine what hope that breathed to the people that were thinking, but where's the gold? Where's the precious stones that had adorned Solomon's temple? This temple doesn't have it. Where is the blessings and the abundance of the town around in the city and the homes? Because this place is still desolate. Where is the dispersion of our enemies because we're still seeing our enemies all around us? Oh yeah, by the way, Rome's coming soon. God has a very different picture of what is going to happen in this temple that would be different. Around 20 BC, here it's going to come in. He's going to jazz it up. In fact, the temple is going to, it's going to more than double in its size. He's going to rejuvenate zero bull's temple. It's going to be modified. But in that temple, on that same foundation, those who weep over what was, God says, you ain't seen nothing yet. See, Jesus is the image of the invisible God will be presented as a little baby. Jesus is the image of the invisible God will grow up attending and learning in this temple. Oh, and his crazy parents, they're going to go three days journey and forget that he's there. Jesus, the image of the invisible God will preach the gospel in this temple. The good news. Jesus, the image of the invisible God will heal the sick people in this temple. A blind man is going to see, for example. Jesus, the image of the invisible God will turn over the money changers in this temple because he had to zeal for his father's house to be a house of prayer. Jesus, the image of the invisible God will say that this temple will be destroyed. But in three days, I'm going to raise it up. Jesus, the image of the invisible God will die on the cross. And that temple's veil will be torn into from top to bottom. Jesus, the image of the invisible God will say, I will make my home in you and tabernacle in you. And I will send my spirit. And I'll be with you always to the end of the age when the last verses in the Bible in Revelation 21, 22. My favorite one says this, the Apostle John writing says, and I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb. What do you think those older people of Ezra 3, if they could see what was coming? How have that had changed in the moment? Now all I had was to hope in what God was going to do. And they still let them to worship. What about those younger people? Oh, this is great. We hadn't even seen the Promised Land and look what God's doing. And they had no idea how much delivery was coming. Now, thank for us in our own situation here right now as a church, as you and as individuals in your family, the tough things are going on. I don't know about you guys. We've had a hell of a week in our family. You know the details. We can fill in the stories later if you want. Let me tell you, it tales. It comparison to the glory of what God is doing and how he's working and how he's moving. If you think his first coming with all the glory that we know about because we look back on it and we read about it in our New Testament, you think his glory is a second coming of your going home. If that happens before, it's going to be any less. What do you think is going to be bigger and better than you and I can imagine? You think we're going to look back on this season at Christ in him church and go, wow, his glory is bigger and better. What do you think we're going to look back and go, man, that's so sorry for my crackling, which today seems fitting. I think we're going to look back and go. It was bigger. It was better. We could ever imagine what you're going through personally, the struggles you're feeling personally, whatever that is. Whereas a family, the difficulties and there's a lot because I know a lot what's going on in the room. You're going to look back one day and go, he was so much bigger and so much better and his glory was working through all of that. I just going to see it in the moment. Oh my gosh. So where are you this morning? Where is your heart when you think about our church? Is your heart greeting? What was? Is your heart filled with what could be? You ain't seen nothing yet. Where is your heart when you think about yourself personally this morning? Moons from the past maybe? Pain in the present? Hope for tomorrow? You ain't seen nothing yet. His story is bigger and better than you can imagine because this is the king's story. And we're in it. We share one song. We travel different roads. We're part of a story that's only getting bigger and better. Believe it, my friends. Follow the king with me. Let's pray. God, you are up to glorious good and glorious work and you're doing it for our joy. But God, you're doing it for your glory because there's no higher cause. There's no higher good that could happen and you're always about the higher good and the higher cause. And at that, therefore by definition, always at the heart of it, your glory. So God, would you continue to do that? Would you make stories that are happening right now in our lives? Whether it's church related or just in our families or personally, that we will tell of our children and our grandchildren and that we passed on from our children to their grandchildren for generations to come until you return. And may we talk about these stories even around the throne one day and the new heavens on the new earth, about your goodness, about your greatness. God, you are up to amazing things because you are truly the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And God, you've come and you've given your life for us that we might be set free. So God, maybe walk and freedom even through difficult times like we're facing right now or looking at. And may we have hope because we know the God who is the God of hope and may we not look for the circumstances, whether it's what we're voting for on Tuesday, whether it's what we're hoping it's going to be like next month in church, whether it's whatever we want and desire in 2017 in our lives. God made that all being submission under the glorious thought that you are at work and causing all things to work to get it for good and that you will build your shirts in the gates of hell will not prevail. And that you are making us more and more image of your son because what you have started you will carry on the day of completion in Christ Jesus. So God, fix your eyes on you and do that for your glory and do that for your honor and pray this in Jesus name. Amen.