The Dwelling Place of God - Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Ephesians Series)

Ephesians two nineteen. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me.

Father, we thank you again that we have this word available to us. And, Lord, we just ask in this moment that every mind and heart would be arrested by the authority of the scripture. And we pray, Lord, that your purposes would prevail and that our hearts would be good soil and would take this seed and allow it to be planted within us to bear fruit for your glory. We pray Lord against every distraction, against every bird of the air that might snatch away this word. And we ask, Lord, for your hedge of protection over every mind in this place.

May Jesus be exalted and lifted high. It does no man any good if man is praised or lifted up or if man is heard. We do not need man's opinion. Lord, we live upon every mouth, every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Guide us and be with us, we pray, Lord.

We need your presence as we just read in Jesus name. Amen. As we continue in Ephesians, we we read on of Paul's explanation of how this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, produces marvelous outcomes not only for the individual, but for the Jew and Gentile and how they relate to one another and how they relate to God himself. And so Paul again here in verse 19 is just reinforcing and reestablishing his point concerning these Jews and Gentiles, specifically with his Gentile audience, the Ephesians, by saying what? So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens in the household of God.

And so there's this idea of us being in the family of God because of the gospel. There's this understanding that Jew and Gentile are, yes, now one, but that does not stop there with these verses. It goes beyond all of that. Not only do we become members of the household of God, Paul's about to give us a marvelous truth that we become the household of God. We become the very habitation of his dwelling.

And so he says here that the inclusion of Jew and Gentile is far beyond of this shift in God's program concerning of how he relates to his people. No. This gospel gave birth to something new and revolutionary, and that is the church of Jesus Christ. Now when we think of church, what comes to our mind? We think of the true church, what are the word associations that come?

For many, it's a building. It's a sanctuary. Maybe a house is just like this. But the word church is the word in its original language, which means assembly of people. Paul tells the Romans at the end of his letter, greet the church in their house.

And so we know that the church is the gathering of the brethren. Those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ is what makes up the church. And yes, we can meet in buildings, but hey, there's some people that are meeting in caves this morning. There are some people that are meeting in jungles, and they are just as much as the church as you and I are in our comfy chairs. So he says, we are the church, and we have to understand the church in two general layers.

There is the universal church, And the universal church is made up of every believer around the world from Pentecost until the return of Jesus Christ that makes up this body of believers. And we are all related no matter what language or tribe we're from, we are the church of Jesus Christ. And one example of this was simply a few weeks ago. We were away with the family, for vacation, and we were coming on our way back on the flight. And Benjamin was sitting beside a couple, and this man saw that he was reading a specific book, and he began to engage in conversation.

And before long, they acknowledge that they were both believers. And for the rest of the flight, they were just talking about the Lord and talking about what God has done in their lives and their testimonies. And by the end of the flight when we landed, I had the chance to talk with him and we ended up just conversing all the way to our to our baggage claim and talking about the state of the church in this generation and different things. And it was instantaneous in our hearts that we knew that we were brothers in Christ. We knew that we were family.

And he said this one remark that that blessed my heart so much. At the end of it, when we knew we were splitting off, he just looked at me and we felt comfortable enough, I guess, and he just gave me a hug and he says, well, I guess I'll see you in heaven. And just walked off. That's the glorious truth of the universal church. And some of you can testify to that, that you've met somebody on campus, you met somebody maybe on the bus, wherever.

And the moment you knew that they were truly born again believers, there's this instant kindred spirit that the spirit of God bears witness that we are children of God. But for the purpose of order and the purpose of mutual encouragement and being built up and accountability, the universal church is expressed in the local church. And that's the second layer, the local church. And Paul and many of the apostles that address local churches in different regions, and the local church is simply the gathering of people location that are made up of a community who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and are committed to regularly meeting with one another to prayer, worship, the teaching and hearing of God's word, fellowship, and the mission of making disciples of all nations. That is the definition in simple terms of what the local church is, which shows us what the church is not.

When we gather up what the church is, the local church according to what we've been given in scripture, there's one thing for certain, the church is not a place where we come to be entertained. Because over the years, the recent years, especially in the West, there has been this outburst of churches that want to reel people in by using means of entertainment. And I found that their main ambition to please people, appease people, entertain people, get people roused up and and and just feeling good about themselves. And that is not what the church is. That is not the purpose of the church.

And the problem with that methodology is that if you're trying to attract people using entertainment what I mean by entertainment is worldly means, worldly methods, the things that the world do to try to engage people's hearts, this is the danger of it. You have to use those same means to maintain the people. If they were attracted for that in the first place, you're gonna have to do that to keep them. In the same way, the world has to find new ways to spark our attention and to gain what what we what they want from us, the church has to do the very same thing. They have to find new ways to keep people coming.

Something more thrilling, something with more bang and more flash and more light. So that the attention span can remain and the attendance can be consistent. And the moment you fall into that trap, you will end up doing things that you never thought you would do, imitating things that you never thought you would imitate. And I say this again because this is more prevalent amongst youth and young adults. And I praise God because there is a resurgent, there is this change in which people really want the bible.

They just really want the scriptures, but it's still evident. And it's this mentality that they're young and their attention span is short, and and they're not interested in the things of God. You would be shocked if you just feed them the scriptures, if you just feed them what God wants to feed them. You would be amazed of how they want it, but they'll take what you give them. And in the end, though it may seem at first that it's actually working and that things are are booming, in the end, it will backfire.

Why? Because you're launching them into the world. They're attending colleges. They're going back to school. And because they are not built upon the foundation of the truth, they don't know how to defend their faith.

They are eaten alive by other viewpoints. And so we all know this. The church is not established for entertainment. The Bible tells us it has been given to us for our equipment. Ephesians four twelve to 13 says this so clearly.

It says in the King James, he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers for what? The entertainment of the saints? No. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. And so we know that God has called leaders and established people in the church for one main purpose, to equip believers, which says that every believer, every single one of you sitting here this morning has a ministry.

And those in leadership have to equip you. That word perfecting is equip or furnishing. Looking at your life, seeing what can we supplement in order for you to be more mature in Jesus Christ. That is the motive. That is why we come here.

That is why you come here, I hope. The church is not an entertainment center. Neither is the church a social gathering. And I wanna be careful with this definition of social gathering. What I mean by that is the church is not a place in which people come to meet and build relationships on Christless foundations.

Because if we're not careful as well, congregations can quickly morph into community centers. And by community centers, I mean a place in which we create events and social gatherings and do recreational activities in a safe environment. And there are many people that attend church. There are many people unfortunately that are going to church today because they grew up in the church, and they built relationships in the church. Those are the only relationships they have.

And so they come to church just to meet with those people and to socialize with those people. There are some people in church today that are coming to the church because it is a specific culture and they feel like they're back at home and they just come to relate to one another because they have that association by culture. It's not a social gathering. It's not a place where we pump activities and pump entertainment. No.

No. No. No. No. The Bible tells us very clearly in Hebrews ten twenty four twenty five.

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Right? Not neglecting to meet with one another as is the habit of some, but encouraging one all the more as the day is drawing near. Hebrews three thirteen in a paraphrase tells us that we are to what? Exhort one another every day.

Why? That we may not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And so we come together for the purpose of sanctification, teaching and admonishing one another. Because all week you've been so filled with the word of God, you just can't wait to share with your brothers and sisters what you've learned in the secret place. But at the same time, the church also is not a place where we come solely to gather to hear a sermon.

Because there are a lot of places as well that preach this Bible faithfully with sound doctrine, but the moment that sermon ends, people split. They don't say a word to one another, and they just came through like it was a drive through meal. And when we read the New Testament, this is what we find. There is no sense of distant relationships within the church. There is this aroma of tight knit communities in which people are doing life together.

They're in step with one another. There's a need amongst the church, they meet that need. There's breaking of bread. There's a meeting. Even in the book of acts, day by day, they're encouraging one another, praying together.

They're involved in each other's lives. When somebody's weeping, guess what? Everybody's weeping. When somebody experienced something that causes them to rejoice, we're involved with that. And so what we want is the marriage of, yes, community.

And I'm not against fun nor am I against activities, but that's not the purpose. Relationships that are built upon Christ, that are motivated and stimulated by Christ. And it's not just about hearing a sermon. It's about being involved with one another, being vulnerable, accountable, picking each other up, sharpening each other. This is the expression of the local church.

And it's important to know that this church, this idea of local church, did not just evolve over time and it just happened to be somebody's idea and it just stuck, so we do it. And people have local churches around and and we just meet once a week. No. Nor is it some autonomous thing in which people can self govern how they operate in this thing called the local church. No.

We see in verse 20. What? That the church, that the household of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The foundation of any building is so important. If the foundation is weak, the structure that it's built upon will be weak.

The purpose of the foundation of any building is to make that structure upright and safe. And what he's saying here is that the church is strong and safe because it has been built over the years upon the teachings of the appointed apostles of Jesus Christ and upon the revelation of the prophets in scripture that have culminated in what we call the bible, in what we call the scriptures. And he says, Jesus is the chief cornerstone of that. And we know in biblical times that the cornerstone could be either one of the stones at the top of the building, but because this is the foundation, it was the the first stone laid in order to give the direction of how that building would be built. That cornerstone was necessary for the stability, the safety, and once again, the direction of how that building would be erected.

And if that cornerstone was removed, the entire building would be at risk of collapsing. And so when we marry the two ideas of apostles and prophets and Jesus being the cornerstone, the church is built upon the teachings of the apostles and the prophets and the revelation of Jesus' life, ministry, and person. Take out Jesus. Take out the teaching of the scripture, and you have a dangerous building. Some people had some questions not too long ago about what church to be in.

And they were giving different arguments about the traditions of this church and the traditions of how this and that, how that, how that. And based on this, the church is not built upon tradition. It's upon the teachings of the scripture. Not too long ago, somebody even asked me this. I thought it was a great question.

It was a genuine question. He asked, what is better, a person to be in a church in which the Bible is treated loosely concerning its doctrines or not to go to church at all? Thank God there are faithful churches that preach this word and build their ministries on the scriptures. But to answer that question, you simply have to go to this text. Would you purchase a home knowing that the foundation was weak?

Would you have confidence to live in a house knowing that the foundation was not built properly? Because eventually, there will be decay in that house, and eventually, there could be potential collapse. Do you see why the scriptures are not optional? Do you see why the whole council of God is totally necessary to be declared and to be taught? First Corinthians three nine says, you people of God are God's field.

You are God's building. You're God's building. And if that building in a corporate or individual setting is not built upon this foundation, what kind of structure will you be over time? When we can't mess around with this stuff, this is about life and death. This is about the direction in which your life will be going.

And so he says, there's this rich heritage. There's this rich heritage that we have, and it also causes us to examine and evaluate which local church we choose to be a part of. If it's not built on this foundation, you are that building. Are you gonna bank your structure, your life on a foundation that is not secure? That's something you have to determine.

And this is one of the main points. This is where we have to come in choosing a local church and being a part of a local body. Is it built upon the bible? Not is it filled with nice people. Not is it nicely comfort and not is the not none of that.

No. No. It's the foundation. What is the foundation? All that other there's nothing wrong with it.

It's extra to this. It's the furniture, but this is the foundation. And so you and I might be sitting here today saying, well, thank you so much. The church is not a building, it's people. The church has to be founded upon the word of God, but Paul doesn't stop there.

When we think about God and how he has displayed himself through his word, there are many facets and descriptions that he gives. And each one reveals a part of who he is so that we would know how to relate to him and how he relates to us. So we see God as father. We see God as what? Bridegroom.

We see God as what? Lord. We see God as what? Judge. But the church, the church herself has different colors that paint her in a certain way in order for us to know her nature and her purpose.

So we see the church as what? Bride. We see the church as what? The body of Christ who is the head. We see the church as what?

The flock of God. As we just read, the household of God, the family of God. And each one of those things, and there are many more, speak of once again how we relate to one another, how we relate to God, and Paul is about to introduce a fascinating monumental truth about the church of Jesus Christ. She is the temple of God. Isn't that what she says?

What he says here. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, verse 21, in whom the holy structure the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Now that might not mean anything to you and I unless we understand what that means. He's clearly going back to the old testament reference of the temple in which the people came to worship and meet with God. That's all the temple was.

It was a localized place in which God chose to reveal himself and manifest his glory. It was a place in which the people would come and sacrifice and offer their praise and worship to him. But Jesus gave a marvelous statement to the woman at the well in John four twenty one. Said, woman, believe me. The hour is coming when man will no longer worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem.

Right, they're gonna worship the father in a different way. And he says that they will worship him in spirit and in truth. And Jesus right there is expressing a radical shift in the way you and I would relate and commune with him. Think with me. Thousands of years ago of a faithful Jewish man during one of the feast times, and he lived in a city far from where the temple dwelled.

And he would travel miles and miles and miles to come to this place. And he would bring his sacrifice that he is guarded throughout that journey, that it would not be tainted. That he has kept and preserved in order for it to meet the standards of the sacrificial law. And as he comes, he gives it to the priest who is the mediator between people and God, and the priest goes in. And as he performs that sacrifice, perhaps the man is just meditating on the fact that the Ark of the Covenant is just steps away from him.

Perhaps he's thinking of the privilege that the priest has to come into close proximity to the presence of God. And after the sacrifice is done, he leaves that place only with the memory of his giving to God and counting the days again in which he would have his next encounter of the temple. The cross changed all of that to this. Two or three believers meeting together, and the temple is now a reality. Do we understand how glorious that is?

Now now we come together and we become the place in which God meets with us and where we come to sacrifice to him. That's the shift that the gospel has brought to the way we worship him and seek him and know him as a local community. And this is what Jesus was saying. You're gonna worship differently. You're gonna have an access to the father that you never thought you can have.

What Paul is saying here is that each pay attention. Each local body is a habitation for the spirit of God to dwell. Why? Because in verse 22, he says, in him, you also are being built together. So he's speaking.

He's not we. He's saying you. He's speaking to the Ephesians church and saying you Ephesians church, you Gentile church, you're actually as your local body, you're being built up to be a habitation for the spirit of God. And so each local church has that privilege and has that joy and has that title. And if that's true, if that's really true, that changes the way we do church, doesn't it?

If we really believe this and and really don't think that this is simply some theory or some theological insight that does not relate to us, we're missing it. This has major implications of how we do church Sunday morning, Friday night, Wednesday evening. Why? Because God is in the assembly. God is in the assembly as we speak.

And if God is present in the assembly, then surely we can expect God's activity to be in the assembly. That only makes some logical sense, does it not? That if God's spirit dwells here, then we should expect God's spirit to move. And he does this in many ways. Now remember, you and I are the building.

You and I are where the holy spirit dwells. And we understand that in a personal sense that we are the temple of the holy spirit, but but he's not talking about personal here. He's talking about corporate. That we are being built together into a habitation for God by the spirit. And so, this is important.

When it comes to the holy spirit manifesting in the local church, more than anything, it's going to be through his people. So here's one way in which the Holy Spirit manifests himself in his temple through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When Paul describes how the Holy Spirit has given gifts to each men according to the grace that's been given to each men, he argues that it's from one spirit, and he empowers them in each and every single one of us. And he says this interesting phrase in first Corinthians twelve seven, to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.

So the gifts of the spirit are a expression of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the congregation. That is fascinating. So it's not some separate thing. It's not like the Holy Spirit sweeps over the church and just drops gifts in a chimney and we figure it out. No.

The holy spirit's gifts are the holy spirit manifesting through you and me. And when that happens, we experience God in the corporate setting. And that is not, hear me, that is not limited to the miraculous. Because when we think of the holy spirit manifesting in his gifts, we kinda automatically just we are bent and we go towards and we are weighted towards the miraculous. And he's not limited to that.

Each one of his gifts are the manifestation of who he is. And each one of those manifestations is an opportunity for us to experience God together. And I can testify of moments where I've come to a church or maybe visited a church and sat in the pew and somebody had the gift of teaching empowered by the Holy Spirit. And when they came and opened the scriptures and declared the word of God in that power, it's as though that man disappeared and it's as though that word was catered directly to me. And that pastor is not on that pulpit anymore for me.

It's not his voice. It's God speaking directly to my heart. It's as though God has been hearing my prayers throughout the days, and now he is speaking through a vessel who is gifted. And he can do that through acts of mercy according to Romans 12. He can do that through leadership.

He can do that through somebody who has the ability to be just very generous. All of those are manifestations of the spirit. So if you're asking in this place for God to reveal himself, do not be surprised if he does it through your brother or sister in Christ. Do not be surprised if you get a phone call and it's somebody encouraging you exactly what you needed to hear. When nobody else knows what you're going through in your family life, and somebody all for a sudden is impressed by God to call you and to encourage you in the Lord, know that that is God speaking in the manifestation of the spirit through the person that's been gifted in such a way.

And that is why we need to be faithful and expectant, hungry to exercise the gifts that God has given each and every one of us. Because if you withhold that, what you are actually withholding is the manifestation of his spirit. But it's not just the gifts, but that's vitally important. It's also through the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Fruit, the works, the evidence of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Listen. If every person yields to the spirit and they bear the fruit of the holy spirit in a local congregation, guess what happens? You and I walk into a garden, and there is an aroma.

There's an aroma of fruit. There's a perfume of the fragrance of the spirit in that place. Did not Jesus say that the defining mark of us being his disciples is our love for one another? And so when a person walks in and sees love oozing out of somebody and patience oozing out of somebody and all these different things, it's the spirit of God manifesting. And we are all experiencing that together.

So we all realize, I hope up to this point, missing church is missing out on a lot. Where God's spirit dwells and where he can manifest through us, we miss out on that when we do not think that the local church is of vital importance. Because remember, though, yes, you are an individual temple, first Peter two tells us that we are living stones. We are living stones being built up as a spiritual house. You know what that means?

We need one another. To create this habitation of God, we need one another the same way a building needs many bricks. It needs different material to build and to hold and to host those that abide in the place. It is of utmost importance that we are a part of a local church and are consistent. Because when you're missing on a consistent basis, you know what's missing?

An aspect of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. There's a fragrance that's missing. And so we know that the primary way in the corporate setting where God manifests his presence is through us, through his temple. But there is a sense in which God's presence, his spirit deals with you directly. That he himself touches your heart in a special way.

Jesus said in John fourteen twenty one, whoever has kept whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him, and check out this reward, and will manifest myself to him. Now he's talking in context of the holy spirit in John 14. Two verses later, he talks about how those who would obey the father and the son would make their home with him. So what am I speaking of here?

Is it Jesus physically appearing to you if you're walking in a lifestyle of obedience? Not so. When we're talking about Jesus manifesting himself in somebody's life, it goes beyond the the theology and the doctrine of omnipresence to him revealing himself in the inward man. In other words, when God chooses to manifest his presence in somebody's life, there is an inward awareness of God that was not there before. There is a heightened reality of the existence of the goodness of the holiness of the beauty of the Lord that happens to the soul of man.

The eyes of his soul is opened and his perception of God is clearer. There is a layer that is removed, and God becomes more real to us in that moment than anything else in that room. And he chooses to do that. And some of you might testify to that. Some of you have had those moments in prayer in which God becomes so real to you.

He's almost closer to you than anything else. It's as though it was face to face. Some of you opened this word and it went beyond just black ink on white pages as though God was speaking to you. It's as though he had a word right for you that jumped out of these pages and jumped into your heart. Some of you have been in corporate worship where you've just sang praises to him and it's like all the anxiety, all the fear, all the pain, everything else disappears, and Christ is right there.

He receives all of your attention. You are as though you are raptured in him. And do we live by those experiences? Not necessarily not necessarily so. No.

Those are just moments in which God chooses chooses for us to taste and see him in a way that would cause us to love him more and give us a glimpse of what's to come in eternity. And that, as as John said through his gospel in 1421, that is an experience and reality that's available to those who walk in obedience with him. In other words, those who faithfully walk according to his ways, not perfectly, but faithfully, experience a nearness of God that is not experienced by those who walk in rebellion. It's just simple. And so all those scriptures that say seek the Lord and seek his presence, all those scriptures of David hungering after God, more of him.

How can you as as Tozer said, that's the paradox of love of the Christian walk that though we have God, he still commands us to seek him. That we are his and he is ours, but there is this there is this pull towards coming after him and knowing him in in greater ways. So we have all of him. Yes. That's the beauty of the gospel, but there's still this exploration and this searching and this seeking and this hungering after God.

As God says, I'll manifest myself to you if you walk and you take my word seriously. So we take all those things and we realize that this thing called the church is much more significant than we think. And the same way you and I through this text and through all the promises concerning who he is in his spirit and through his spirit in us, we expect those things by faith. But in the same manner, God expects something from us as his temple. These are not automatic per se.

We expect this from him, but he expects something from us the same way he expected something from his temple of old concerning his people. And it comes down to this, holiness. Yes. We relate to God differently. Yes.

We are the temple, but the principle is still the same. Holiness is absolutely necessary in order for us to make this a dwelling place by his spirit in which he enjoys to dwell in. Think of all those instructions of the temple. Every detail of the furniture. All the material that need to be given.

There was no option. They they could not give their own opinion. Everything was brought down to every single detail. Why? Because it catered to the standard of God's holiness.

And if there was a lack of reverence towards the sanctuary, it brought them into a place of risking the presence of God in their midst. And we see that happening with Hophni and Phineas, that these were the priests of the Lord, the sons of the priests. And they were living in rebellion, living in sensuality, and they thought that this was automatic. God said he would do it. God said he would be here.

He's here. And when they went into battle with the ark of the covenant, guess who didn't show up? God. And we have to understand that just because we are a local church does not necessarily mean the spirit of God is manifesting or is moving in the way he could potentially move. Think of the church of Laodicea.

They were meeting together, but guess who's who was outside of the church? Jesus. Which shows us something of that church that they were gathering, but once again, they're probably gathering for the wrong reason. They're probably gathering for that social purpose. They're probably gathering for that sake of entertainment.

All the while, Jesus is outside of the church, and he's saying, I'm knocking, and I'm willing to come in and to sup with you. I'm willing to have that communion with you, but you have to be willing to open the door. Holiness is absolutely necessary for us to know what this means in its fullest sense. To know what it means to be in the dwelling place of God by his spirit. And Paul uses this on more than one occasion to motivate them to live holy.

Second Corinthians seven one, look what he says. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Since we have these promises, what promises? Well, you have to backtrack and go back to second Corinthians six sixteen. And he says, for we are the temple of the living God.

And God said, what? I will make my dwelling among them and will walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people. Now Paul was a smart theologian. He is not going back to Leviticus chapter 26 where God made that promise to them and using it half heartedly in this moment. He's speaking to a New Testament church and he's saying, hey listen.

The same way God walked in the midst of his people in Leviticus is the same way that the same God is walking in the midst of your local church. And if that's true, may you be motivated to live a holy life. Why? Because there's a potential in which you and I, not just individually, but corporately can grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. When we look at those commands, especially in Ephesians four thirty where he says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

You have to look at the surrounding verses to understand what he's talking about. Most of the verses that are surrounding that are negative commands. Don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do that.

And if you look at the commands, a majority of them speak of the tongue and how we speak to one another. Oh, that's deep. Meaning this, we are living stones and how we treat one another affects how the holy spirit moves in our midst. If we slander, if we speak against, if there's corrupt talk, if that is the environment that we are developing as living stones, guess who's grieved? The one who made his home in this place.

And when you grieve the holy spirit, we know this. He does not depart from us, but he does get quiet. Do not quench the holy spirit. In first Thessalonians five, we see that. Do not despise prophecy.

And the surrounding positive commands, pray always, rejoice at all times, give thanks in all so those are the so those are the things that fuel the activity of the Holy Spirit in our midst. And so we boil it down to this that the way we treat one another is vital into the way we experience the presence of God in our midst and the way he wants to manifest himself through us. Which again brings us back to this thought. Church must be seen in light of this, that he's here. And if he's here, there is a reverence that must be here.

If he's here, there must be an expectation on our part every single time we come here. There must be this hunger for him and his desire for him. If he wants to make his dwelling amongst us, that is closely associated and very vital to the truth that the foundation has to be right. The Holy Spirit, God's spirit does not want to move into a place in which the foundation is not based on the teaching of the apostles and prophets and where Christ Jesus is not the cornerstone. And so we read through a book like the book of acts, and we see snapshot moments of how the Holy Spirit was doing just that, both in a negative way and in a positive way.

What I mean by negative, Ananias and Sapphira learned the hard way of what it means to have the Holy Spirit in the midst of the congregation. That as they walked in, they lied to him, and they became a sermon illustration. But on the positive side, you see these Christians that were walking in the comfort of the Holy Spirit as acts nine says. That were walking in assistance of the spirit of God that dwelt among them. And one of those moments is in acts 13 where they're praying.

We know this story. Praying and worshiping and seeking God and it says that the Holy Spirit said to them, bang. In acts 15, as they were figuring out doctrinal issues with the Gentiles, it says, it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit. Like, he was just amongst them. It seemed good to us and to the holy spirit that we go this way.

Total dependency, total leading, total guidance, total empowerment from him. And so these living stones, you and I, must understand that holiness our pursuit of holiness is the pursuit of greater realities of the Holy Spirit in and through us in every sense of the word. Not just in our speech. Paul uses that very same argument and it's sexual purity. Because are you joining yourself with a prostitute?

Do you not know that you're actually the dwelling place of God yourself? God is in you and me. And I don't know about you, but I want the fullness of him in me. And so what does that mean for us today? It means that we pursue the right foundation.

And no matter what the pull of the culture may be, we stand our ground. Because no matter what the culture wants or no matter what the culture is attracted to, we're not concerned about attracting the culture. We're concerned about attracting the presence of God. And it means this, that you and I play a vital role in displaying who he is to one another. That means we are valuable in his sight, that we are valuable to one another, and that we must continue to make a commitment in 2018 to be a part of this family.

Let's pray together.