Jesus Builds His Church

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Jesus Builds His Church

• Ezra 1-3
• Part 2 of 3

Cross Creek Community Church Pastor Dave Martin
Jan 14, 2007
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The church is not a building but people!
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• Matthew 1618b I will build my church, and all
  the powers of hell will not conquer it. Jesus
  (NLT)

• We must
• EXALT
• EVANGELIZE
• EQUIP
• ELEVATE

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Twelve Building Principles

• 1. Vision
• God moves in the hearts of His servants.
• Ezra 15 Then the family heads of Judah and
  Benjamin, and the priests and Levites--everyone
  whose heart God had moved--prepared to go up and
  build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

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Vision

• Prov 2918 Where there is no vision, the people
  perish

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Twelve Building Principles

• 2. People
• God draws people and prompts them to get
  involved.
• Ezra 21-2 Now these are the people of the
  province who came up from the captivity of the
  exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had
  taken captive to Babylon v2b The list of the men
  of the people of Israel
• Ezra 268a they arrived at the house of the
  LORD in Jerusalem

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People

• Acts 44 But many who heard the message believed,
  and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

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Twelve Building Principles

• 3. Finances
• People gave in accordance with their ability
  (Gods blessings).
• Ezra 268b-69 When they arrived at the house of
  the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the
  families gave freewill offerings toward the
  rebuilding of the house of God on its site. 69
  According to their ability they gave to the
  treasury for this work 61,000 drachmas of gold,
  5,000 minas of silver and 100 priestly garments.

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Finances

• Luke 638 Give, and it will be given to you. A
  good measure, pressed down, shaken together and
  running over, will be poured into your lap. For
  with the measure you use, it will be measured to
  you.

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Twelve Building Principles

• 4. Unity
• God produces one accord among His people.
• Ezra 31 When the seventh month came and the
  Israelites had settled in their towns, the people
  assembled as one man in Jerusalem.

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Unity

• 1 Corinthians 110 I appeal to you, brothers, in
  the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of
  you agree with one another so that there may be
  no divisions among you and that you may be
  perfectly united in mind and thought.

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Twelve Building Principles

• 5. Faith
• People trusted obeyed God in spite of their
  fear.
• Ezra 33 Despite their fear of the peoples around
  them, they built the altar on its foundation and
  sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD,
  both the morning and evening sacrifices.

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Original Property

• Purchased from Free Methodist, N.Y. Conference
  May 8, 2001 for 240,000
• Purchased addtl parcel from UGI in June 2004

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Marys Place

• A Minor sub-division, Land Swap a 3 acre parcel
  with Harvest Assembly Church

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Faith

• Hebrews 116 And without faith it is impossible
  to please God, because anyone who comes to him
  must believe that he exists and that he rewards
  those who earnestly seek him.

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Twelve Building Principles

• 6. Planning
• Necessary preparations were made for the project.
• Ezra 37 Then they gave money to the masons and
  carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to
  the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would
  bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as
  authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.

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Rear Elevations
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Driveway Side Elevations
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Side View
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Overall Plan
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Upper Level
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Lower Level
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Carverton Road View
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Planning

• Proverbs 1921 Many are the plans in a man's
  heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

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God wants to use you!

• Vision
• People
• Finances
• Unity
• Faith
• Planning

Next Week the last six building principles
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• William Carey said, Expect great things from
  God, attempt great things for God.

Cross Creek is a GREAT Church because we have
GREAT people who serve a GREAT God!