GOD’S BUILDING: BE RESTORED AND RENEWED

GOD’S BUILDING: BE RESTORED AND RENEWED
by Tammy Phillips
(with most of the content contributed by Pastor Freddy T Wyatt)
April 17, 2023

I was gently reminded more than once that I am so not perfect, but ever a work in progress!!!

Yesterday, I looked up to my husband and said, “Is he done?”   Pastor Freddy T Wyatt brought the word of God for about fifteen minutes in a short, powerful sermon entitled, “The Building Ain’t the Building.” He might as well have “dropped-the-mike” after he was finished. Boy did it pack a punch, in more ways than one.  He read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. He focused on verse nine, “For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”  Pastor preached that we are the church, His coworkers, and His building. We are his home. We are what he is building up and working on. He illustrated that the Holy Spirit is like sandpaper, smoothing down the edges of our lives so we are not so splintery! He is constantly working on us.

The following words of God raced through my mind:

 We are the temple of the living God. (2Co 6:16 CSB)

He restores us. (Psalm 23:3)

He  transforms us
He renews us.
He renovates us.
He completely changes us for the better. (Rom 12:2 KJV)

He renews us  day by day. (2Co 4:16 CSB)

He perfects us.
He repairs us.
He restores us.
He renovates us.
He puts us  in order.
He fits and frame us.
He mends what has been broken in us.
He  makes us what we ought to be.
He renders  us complete. (He 13:21, 1 Peter 5:10)

“Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor 5:17 NKJV)

Pastor also explained that we are God’s tilled up soil and that God has to break us up to prepare us to grow His fruit. I Corinthians 3:6 and 7 says, “but God gave the increase and the growth.”  It is God who grows us up.  What’s He growing? 

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.”(Gal 5:22-23 CSB)

Then Pastor Freddy T issued a challenge.  I called it a “punch list.”  A punch list is prepared by a contractor in a building project.  It outlines any work that has not been completed, or has not been completed correctly, down to the smallest detail, that will need to be rectified before the project can be considered complete, or perfect.

Pastor ended the service with the following “Fruit Punch List” and directive.  Rank yourself 1 to 10 in the following rooms in your spiritual house:

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Faithfulness
• Gentleness
• Self-control

Then he said, “If you are really serious about being God’s building, ask someone who lives with you to rank you.” OUCH!  

Let’s just say the Architect of the universe and my favorite Carpenter, Jesus, has some MAJOR renovations to do in “This Old House!” 

I enCOURAGE you to slow read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9,  listen to the brief sermon (“The Building Ain’t the Building”-Pastor Freddy T Wyatt ),  and complete the challenged, Fruit Punch List.  (I also let my husband rank me.)  Afterwards, join in and ask the Lord which room or rooms He wants to begin renovating.  Take it day by day.

“Therefore, we do not give up.  Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.”  (2Co 4:16 CSB)

Viva Magenta!  Live! Breathe. Be…renewed and restored. 
(You know some of my walls will be painted magenta.)