Building A Church: 4 Essentials From The Summit

During the 2023 Spring Summit, I provided 4 separate messages that the Lord had placed in my soul. I want to share them with you. If you would like to listen to any of the speakers, go here and be blessed. Until then, enjoy my part.

Essential #1: Preparation Precedes Blessing

Scripture: Proverbs 24:27

Prepare your work outside;

get everything ready for yourself in the field,

and after that build your house.

This Scripture gives a great principle: first things first. This is true when buying a home. You don’t move into a house unless it is time to move into it. If it is a new house, inspections must be passed and it must be thoroughly prepared and safe. If it is older, the house might need some things fixed. However, you are preparing with an expectation of the move.

God is saying, “Go ahead and prepare.” Prepare for what? Prepare for what you are praying for. Prepare for what He tells you is true in His Word. Prepare for victory over your battles before you can see that victory. Prepare for that time of rejoicing when you are in your time of despair, even when things are not looking good.

When we were buying our house several years ago, there was a hold up because we still owned another property. The closing was taking forever! It was so frustrating. And I remember my husband saying, “If we get the house...” I corrected him. “It’s not if we get the house, it’s when we get the house.” We both felt that this was the house, but our speech had to show preparation for the blessing. Our actions had to show an act of faith. I started packing boxes in anticipation of that move.

My husband had access to the home. The owner had moved out of state and gave my husband the code to the garage (to remove some things). So with this attitude of expectancy, my husband went into the house. He went from room to room praying. He prepared it for his family.

Preparation precedes blessing. Do you want your house to be built on God and His Word? Step out of your comfort zone. Do the hard things. Be obedient and do what God has called you to do, regardless of how it looks, what your position might currently be, your state of health, or your financial situation. We, as Christians, walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)!

God is saying today, “If you prepare like it already is, I will bless indeed.” This is faith that is alive, because it exists with works. The Bible tells us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17)!

Are you praying for particular things within your household? Prepare as though it is already changing and happening. Preparation means praising God for those things that you are praying for, praising Him in advance!

Preparation precedes blessing! Side note: I followed these instructions before the summit. All I have to say is do it! Test Him and see. Hallelujah!!

Essential #2: Watch for a Diseased House

Scripture: Leviticus 14:34-47 (I won’t post all of this Scripture. I will paraphrase.)

The people of God were getting ready to move into a promised land into houses that they did not even have to build. However, God had caused leprosy to plague that land. And a type of leprosy had even got into the walls of some houses. So He gave them instructions on what to look for and how to treat it.

If the leprous pieces were removed but the leprosy continued to grow, it was called a “fretting” leprosy. In Hebrew this word fretting means “painful”. In this situation, the entire house had to be torn down. Not just torn down, but torn down and completely removed from the city.

This is a diseased house. And sometimes we develop a diseased house. By that I mean we have allowed sin to come into our homes. Examine your home today. Does it have red and green streaks? Are you allowing your kids to do things that are spiritually harmful? Are you and your spouse on the lookout for that leprosy that creeps into your home and can lead to spiritual damage?

Are you, as the temple of God, keeping your temple of the Holy Spirit free from the disease of sin? There are times in your life when you will have to allow God to tear down the construction of the enemy, with that fretting or painful leprosy, and rebuild a holy temple.

Check yourself and your house today. Make a thorough sweep. Get your household in order. Men, are you leading your homes in a Godly way? Women, are you loving your husbands? And anything that is placed before God is idolatry. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 we read:

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Keep your house, your physical house and your home, free from the leprous sin of the world. We are in the world but not to be like the world.

Essential #3: Carry the Holy Things

Scripture: Numbers 7:4-9

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 5 Take it of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service. 6 And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites. 7 Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service: 8 And four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 9 But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.

This Scripture references the three groups within the tribe of Levi. The Levites made up the priesthood. The sons of Kohath carried significant things upon their shoulders. What holy things from the tabernacle were they responsible for carrying?

• The altar, where the blood of sacrifices were made

• The laver, where the priests would wash

• The golden lamp stand that illuminated

• The table that held the shew bread

• The incense altar that burned

• The very ark of the covenant, where God’s presence would come down into the Holy of Holies

1 Peter 2:9 tells us: 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;

So we know that we are now priests, under the High Priest, Jesus Christ. And the question is: Do you carry the holy things? When we talk about carrying the weight on our shoulders, we understand this to mean that we have a great responsibility. And in this situation, I mean that we have a great responsibility to carry the things of God in our house, our physical temple. So what do these holy things represent?

• The altar is fire for destruction. It represents repentance. It is to burn continually God said in Leviticus 6:12-13. This is probably why Paul said, I die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31). And we know that in 1 John 1:9 it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If we carry the altar of fire, we repent daily, as well as when we have sinned.

• The laver of water was a place of cleansing. We must be baptized in Jesus' name. Mark 16:16 says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” We must be buried with Him in baptism (Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12). And the name of Jesus is powerful! If you look at every example of baptism in the book of Acts, they did this in the name of Jesus.

• The lampstand is fire for instruction. We need the Word of God. Romans 10:14 says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” We need to hear the Word, but we also need to read it for ourselves. We are also responsible to know the Word of God. It’s not up to someone else. You carry this burden. The Word is a powerful weapon against the enemy.

• Shewbread is your sustenance. God is everything you need. You need Him! But when you realize He’s everything you need, that He is your sustenance, you learn to trust Him and depend upon Him. Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

• The incense is fire of construction. It is your prayer and your praise that goes up before God. "Lord, make me a house of prayer! I want to seek You first! Not someone or something else." And God deserves praise because He is worthy! Praise lifts your weary spirit and it is also a powerful weapon. You can’t worry and praise. You can’t complain and praise. It takes the focus off of your problems and puts it on the Problem-Solver!

• And finally, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn from top to bottom giving us access to His Spirit (Matthew 27:51). On the Day of Pentecost He poured out His Spirit. This means that God is more that just around you, beside you, in front of you, behind you, He can be inside of you, this temple. This temple needs to be filled with His spirit. If you go look in the book of Acts, something happened when people were filled. They spoke in a heavenly language! It’s not a gift for a few. It’s for you and your children and your children’s children! We all need it!

You have a responsibility to carry all of these holy things upon your shoulders.

Essential #4: A Determined House

Do you have a word for this year? Every year, I ask God to give me a word that will represent what He wants for me in the upcoming year. This year my word is: determination. Determination means:

1. firmness of purpose

2. the process of establishing something exactly by calculation or research

Scripture: Proverbs 24:3-4 is a Scripture that determines what we should be doing.

"Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

Our house should be built through wisdom.

• We should determine to use the best plans. Are you listening to the world and its ideas on what to use? Or are you using the Word of God as your blueprint?

• We should determine to use the best tools and supplies .James 1:5 tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” God provides everything we need. Just ask.

• We should be determined to use the best builder. This is Jesus Christ. We are His creation. He knows how to do the best job. Not us.

Our house should be established by understanding.

• The word established comes from a word that means “firm”.

• Understanding comes through the Word of God, which creates a firm place or a place of determination.

• Do not trust your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Our house should be filled with riches by knowledge.

• Have a reverence of who God is. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”

• The riches of serving God are immeasurable. The protection, the deliverance, the sustaining power, and the salvation, if we continue a relationship and get to know who God is and what He desires for us.

We need to be determined to serve Him…no matter what!

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