BUILT UP TOGETHER
Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
The Christian life is not a solo journey—it is a communal one.
Romans 12:5 (AMPC) We, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another].
When God answers prayers, He often sends people.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV) Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.
It’s tempting to have a relationship with God without His people.
Proverbs 18:1 (NKJV) A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment. What feels normal in isolation gets tested and refined in community. True spirituality is revealed in relationships.
John 13:35 (NIV) By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
1 John 3:16-18 (NIV) This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions [gifts] and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
THE TEMPLE GOD IS BUILDING
Eden: The First Temple – God dwelt with Adam and Eve.
The mandate was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), spreading God’s presence across the earth.
Habakkuk 2:14 (NIV) For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Church: The Final Temple – God now dwells in you and me.
The mandate is to “be fruitful and multiply” (Matthew 28:19-20), spreading God’s presence across the earth.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV) You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
A single brick, alone, may seem insignificant. But when joined with others, it becomes part of something magnificent—a temple that reaches every corner of the earth.
1 Peter 2:5 (CEB) You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple.
The Temple’s Construction: Each believer, as a living stone, contributes to the building of God’s spiritual temple. This work continues until the Church has made disciples of all nations.
The Completion of the Temple: When the knowledge of God’s glory fills the earth (Habakkuk 2:14) and all have come to salvation, the temple is finished.
God Dwelling with Humanity: At the return of Christ, the transcendent Father comes to dwell fully in the renewed creation—now made holy through the completed temple.
Everyone wants to go to heaven, but God wants to come to earth. Praise God for heaven, but God’s goal is heaven on earth.
Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
The Christian life is not a solo journey—it is a communal one.
Romans 12:5 (AMPC) We, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another].
When God answers prayers, He often sends people.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV) Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.
It’s tempting to have a relationship with God without His people.
Proverbs 18:1 (NKJV) A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment. What feels normal in isolation gets tested and refined in community. True spirituality is revealed in relationships.
John 13:35 (NIV) By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
1 John 3:16-18 (NIV) This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions [gifts] and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
THE TEMPLE GOD IS BUILDING
Eden: The First Temple – God dwelt with Adam and Eve.
The mandate was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), spreading God’s presence across the earth.
Habakkuk 2:14 (NIV) For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Church: The Final Temple – God now dwells in you and me.
The mandate is to “be fruitful and multiply” (Matthew 28:19-20), spreading God’s presence across the earth.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV) You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
A single brick, alone, may seem insignificant. But when joined with others, it becomes part of something magnificent—a temple that reaches every corner of the earth.
1 Peter 2:5 (CEB) You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple.
The Temple’s Construction: Each believer, as a living stone, contributes to the building of God’s spiritual temple. This work continues until the Church has made disciples of all nations.
The Completion of the Temple: When the knowledge of God’s glory fills the earth (Habakkuk 2:14) and all have come to salvation, the temple is finished.
God Dwelling with Humanity: At the return of Christ, the transcendent Father comes to dwell fully in the renewed creation—now made holy through the completed temple.
Everyone wants to go to heaven, but God wants to come to earth. Praise God for heaven, but God’s goal is heaven on earth.
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